231 10 13080 https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2818/1989_Vol_12_No_1.pdf 39521c7b0de218ef066f1cf1bdbc659a PDF Text Text PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �EDITORIAL In the NORTHERN WOMAN Vol.11 #4 we analyzed the election results and the free trade implications. At that time as said; "We must mature our awareness and analysis of the full Conservative agenda - social policy, tax reform, trade - and determine what is in store for us in the next four years. Behind the mask of free trade lies a neo-conservative agenda (which would not on its own be risked) that will devastate the vulnerable in our society, will erode the modest gains that women have made, and will set back the cause of social justice and equality for a decade." We now have the federal budget and our fear becomes reality. The propaganda about the deficit is, of course, a smokescreen. What the Wilson budget does is deliver the free trade agreement and begin the harmonization of our social and economic systems to the American model. And what is the American model? We need to understand that the United States, among industrialized nations, has: -the biggest gap between the rich and the poor -the highest per capita poverty rate -the most children living in poverty - the most people without health care -the most homeless -the highest rate of adult illiteracy -the poorest legislation governing working conditions. So we have the Wilson budget. A budget that begins the process of destroying our Unemployment Insurance system. And make no mistake, it is women that will be most seriously hurt by the U.I.C. changes. A budget that ignores child care...while the decade -long child care CRISIS escalates. A budget...that begins the erosion of universality. A budget that embraces privat zation...again most seriously harp ing women. A budget that reduces support for regional economic development and the development of Native communities. A budget that reduces transfe payments for health and post-secor dary education. A budget that cuts funding to women's, Native and multicultural organizations...Decade Council cut 15%, Northwestern Ontario Regional Day Care Committee cut 30-35%, Women's Place Kenora cut, etc., et If we are to avoid the erosior of our Canadian society until we a/ indistinguishable from the Americar we must act NOW. We must inform ourselves. Infc others. Protest. Organize. Keep Canada alive. BREAKING THE SOCIAL CONTRACT On June 9th, about 150 Thunder Bay people gathered at the CPR station- with petitions outlining QUI' In response to the federal budget, representatives of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, the Pro-Canada Network and the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Workers joined together to GET THE BUDGET BACK ON TRACK, travelling coast to coast protesting the budget and pointing out that: "Past and ptezent genetations of Canadians have developed a unique zociat conttact with theit govetnment. Thtough this sociat conttact, Canadians have ctaimed theit basic democtatic tights as citizens to a system o4 zociat programs designed to ensure decent emptoyment, education, eon- uMet ptotection, cuZtukat development, and 4ait taxation. The current 4edetat government La now bteaking that sociat conttact. The Free Trade Agreement has set the stage {got hatmonizing out economy and sociat programs with the economy and sociat programs o4 the United States. The recent Witzon budget zetvez to accetetate this process Tog ethet, these economic sttategiez past wL destroy the investment generations in out nationat and democtatic 4utute." . Northwestern Ontario concerns for the protesting travellers to take to Ottawa. The Northwestern Ontario protest centred on child care, Via Rail and postal service cuts, Air Canada privitization, regressive sales tax, U.I.C., Old Age Security, Family Allowances and cuts to the Secretary of State Women's Programs. Congratulations go to the Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council who spearheaded the Thunder Bay event, which was an energyzing rally, complete with protest songs led by the "Raging Grannies". A similar rally was organized in Kenora by Women's Place, Kenora. "I with to shake my betie4 abo, the ideotogicat peupective {j nom I think thiz government opetata. I believe that Mutitoney'4 Conzekvativ unlike any Canadian Conzetvative go etnment bepte them, wish to change the iundamentat bafance between pub tic good and ptivate gain that has chatactenized out history. They wiz to move Canada toward an economic m et in the image o4 Thatcheez BAita and Reagan'4 Ametica. They betieve that the unlettered (tee market La the bent alb -ton (14 oppottunity one that government shoutd disengage it set4 4tom the dizttibution o4 weatt They have been joined by Cotpo ate Canada (and I diztingui4h this sector ?nom smatt and medium sized businesses who create most o4 the jobs, and who ate 6u46eting under this government as wett), who have out grown Canada, and whose set intetezt cteatty no tongeA patattet outs nationat interest. Canada La be coming a cta)mic cotpotatist state, whete huge cotpotations ate the don inant in4titutows, and who pursue growth in wea -Pth and power as theL' singte ovettiding goat. National Autez ptomoting competition and Lin iting theist growth ate seen as an impediment. In 4cect, big business was seeking (nee ttade, not to tinh businesz to the nationat putpoe, but tathet to itee it {tom such a Aesponsibitity." Maude Battow Chaitpetson Council. o4 Canadiak PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 'NORTHERNWOMAN page 2 �RED FLAG BILL 124: An Act to Amend the Children's Law Act by LENT UNTINEN for: The Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council Sub-commitee on Violence We also challenged Section 24 (2c) in respect to custody and access: "The length of time the child has lived in a stable home environment" as a consideration. This clause does a disservice to battered women whose move from the home has been forced by fear and to the many shelters for battered women which have been established to provide stability for the women and their children in times of crisis. The Violence Sub-Committe of the Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council recently submitted a brief to the Standing Committee on Social Development. Sub-Committee members identified many concerns regarding the Bill 124 An Act to Amend the Children's Law Reform Act. Under this legislation access by a non-custodial parent is assumed to be "in the best interest of a child". Further, "encouraging and supporting the childls-continuing parent-child relationship with the other parent" assumably requires some co-operation. If co-operation were a factor in custody-access agreements a legislation of this type would be unnecessary and in fact is unnecessary in the majority of cases. Subsequently this legislation is designed for the minority of custody-access cases with implications for the majority and very serious implications for women and children ending a violent relationship. In reality shuffling a child back and forth, between parents 1) where there is a history of violence, or 2) where parents are in conflict, or 3) where one parent is,kin fear of the other, other, is is definitely not in the best interest of a child. Inclusion of this duty clause sets the stage for granting custody, weighing consideration of a parent's intention to co-operate in according access. This particular clause offers a dangerous choice of options for battered women: a) fight for custody, deny access and risk losing custody or b) agree to access and risk the safety of herself and her child. , Section 24 (2e) includes the "ability and willingness of each person seeking custody to provide ... the necessities of life and to meet the special needs of children". Clarification must be made in order to ensure that the lower average income levels of women (yet to be corrected by adequate Ontario Pay Equity legislation) does not penalize mothers and that custody and access are not "bought" by the higher income earner. Concerns were expressed regarding "reimbursing reasonable expenses" when access has been denied and the ability of women on limited income to comply with this order. Section 35 suggests "Appointing a mediator" and the possibility of court ordered mediation. Court ordered mediation between two persons where an equal negotiating status may not exist, particularly in circum- between the two may have either been controlling or violent is a very dangerous option. While the subcommittee supports the paragraphs listing the possibility of physical and emotional harm as reasons for denial of access, we are aware of many women leaving relationships after years of physical and emotional abuse and where "proof" of the violence has not been documented. The Ontario Government is well aware of the many reasons for this and through their literature have titled wife assault as "the silent crime ".. How- ever, we are not convinced of the judical system's sensitivity to this characteristic of family violence. This particular status leaves open the possibility that women who cannot prove past violence may be forced to agree to access in order to not appear uncooperative and risk losing custody, or, the possibility that women who have left violent relationships will not seek child support knowing that access may be a condition and possibility of further harassment may be realized. "Require Supervised" access as referred in section 35 a (6) (a) is not available throughout Northwestern Ontario. The region has, at best, minimal support services to deal with both family breakdown and family violence. Laws applicable to Ontario should consider the reality of all Ontario regions, in order, that courts do not order support systems which a community cannot provide. No clear data exists that access denial is a major problem. The lack of consultation with persons that will be most affected by the proposed legislation leads to speculation that Bill 124 is a political response to pressure groups reacting to The Supand Custod. Enforcement Act. Reof children require in depth study and consultation. Legislation presented to protect children must not be initiated as a political maneuver. Drafted pieces of legislation are always complicated documents. By their very format they tend to intimidate the average person. It requires time and hard work to absorb the meaning of clauses and to think through the implications. But legislation, policies or programs involving custody, access and mandatory mediation should be a red flag to women's organizations across the country. This is not a time to be apathetic to drafted legislation because of the complexity of the language. Study it, understand it, react to it. The future safety of thousands of women and children may depend on it. '774E S niEr PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor NORTHERN- WOMAN page 3 �LONG DISTANCE DELIVERY: A Guide to Travelling Away from Home to Give girth by HOLLY RUPERT Birthing is a special health issue for Northern women. The medical services women need during pregnancy, labour and delivery, are not always available in the small towns of Northwestern Ontario. That means women must travel, often to a large hospital in a distant city, to get the care they need. "When I got to the Thunder Bay hospital, I was alone. My husband was left behind, so were my three other boys. You're really lost and alone. I asked the nurse who went with me for a hug -- I really thought I was going to die, or that the baby would die. That's why I was willing to get a hug from anyone." If a woman is sent by ambulance to another hospital, often her partner or relative is not allowed to accompany her. The space in an ambulance is limited, especially if an air ambulance is used. If an incubator is needed for the baby, there may not be room for an extra passenger. Sometimes poor weather conditions mean more fuel is needed for the flight and that too, restricts the number of passengers who can be on board. For many of the women we spoke to, being separated from their partner or other relative was the most difficult aspect of an out-oftown birth. The Project on Out-of-Town Birth grew out of a concern about the impact birthing away from home has on women. We wanted to find a tangible way to help women in our region find positive ways to cope with the demands of this situation. We decided to research and write a booklet that would serve as a practical guide to out-of-town birth. The project, which began in December 1987 and will come to an end this summer, has been funded by Health Promotion Directorate, Health and Welfare Canada. It is co-sponsored by two women's groups - the Red Lake Women's InformatiOn Group and the Northwestern Ontario Women's Health Infoimation Network based in Thunder Bay. In the early stage of the project, we went to several small towns in NorOwes tern Ont4r,igt,t.st, hear T44941g44441,ftsmIewm-:could tell us about out-of-town birth. We travelled to Marathon, Terrace Bay, Manitouwadge, White River, Sioux Lookout, Ignace, Vermilion Bay, Dryden, Ear Falls and Red Lake. At an open meeting in each town, women talked about the problems they had faced. They suggested things that would have made the trip Often the things that worried away easier. women reflected the isolation and naThe women in towns like Ignace tural challenges that characterize and Vermilion Bay, which lack a hospilife in the bush. tal, told us about the many practical For instance, being stranded on details they had to plan for in addithe highway by poor weather was a contion to finding a doctor and thinking cern for women who must travel to hosabout the obstetrical care they would pital in their own car. We heard of prefer. For instance, they had to ara couple who, in their panic to get range for friends or neighbours to care to the hospital once labour had startfor their children and homes when they ed, hit a moose calf on the highway. left for hospital. One woman talked about her confusion "With my second pregnancy I had a when the whole town was evacuated girlfriend lined up" an Ignace woman just before her due date because of said. "If I went into labour during the a threatening forest fire. Some even night, she said she'd come and stay said they would try to avoid a spring with my daughter. She was basically on or fall delivery as the flying weathcall for my last month. And if she coer is notoriously fickle at those uldn't do it another woman would." times of the year. Some spoke of the tremendous fear The ideas, advice and stories we that took hold when things went wrong gathered during the community meetings during labour or delivery. In many comhave become the basis of the booklet munities, the local hospital is not eto be distributed this summer. As we quipped to handle emergencies and womlistened to women talk about their exen must be sent to another hospital by periences, we were moved by the loving air ambulance. When this happens, womcourage with which they face birth un7 en may feel they are being swallowed der these circumstances. up by events beyond their control. In the second stage of the proMany told us about the loneliness they ject, we asked health care workers felt giving birth in a hospital far what they felt women need to know abfrom family and friends. out out-of-town birth. We sent a sur"My husband stayed with me until vey to prenatal instructors who help they put me in the ambulance" said a to prepare women for birth. We asked woman from Marathon who was sent to doctors and nurses who care for women Thunder Bay by airplane. She had bein small and large hospitals for their gun to hemorrhage with her fourth baideas. And we surveyed public health by, now a healthy preschooler. nurses who visit women when they return home from the hospital. The res- ponses gave us a clearer picture o the medical reasons for out-of-tow birth. We learned about the proble in providing continuity of care fo women before and after their birth Why are women having to trave away to give birth? The most commo reason is the lack of local birthi services. In most places, the loca doctor provides prenatal care, but another doctor in a large city hos tal will assist at the delivery. I that hospital is far away, it may difficult to have prenatal visits with the doctor before the birth. This situation affects many Native women from reserve communit In our region, they represent the jority of those having out -of -tows births. The demands of travel and paration from family and friends E especially hard for Native women. They must make the trip out to hos tal about two weeks before their d date and wait for their baby's art val. They may feel lonely, displac and bored as they try to cope in a world so culturally different fron their own. In some places, such as Nipig the doctors haver-emmMitrvartr/tPINn ver babies although there is a loc hospital. In 1985, the Nipigon doc tors decided the number of babies they delivered the previous year about 25 -- was too low to ensure necessary competency level for obE etrical care. That is, the doctors weren't getting enough practice at delivering babies to feel that the could do it safely. When the Nipigon doctors ann( ced they would be sending women t( out-of-town doctors for labour an delivery, some community women wet angry. They did not want to lose familiar, personalized care they 1 known at the local hospital. Desp: lobbying efforts and community sui port for continued birthing servi( the doctors have stood firm. An informal survey of Nipigoi women, carried out in 1987 by the Northwestern Ontario Women's Heali Information Network, found that d re were at least 68 births that yo Even with this apparent increase, birthing services have not been r( instated. There has been a growing tree in the last decade, in Northweste. Ontario as in other parts of the try, to use a regional model in p viding birthing services. Within given region, hospitals provide b thing services based on their geo, phic location and the specialized people on their staff. In some ca smaller medical units may be clos to consolidate services. Women wi greater medical risks are sent to hospitals which can offer more sp cialized care. Those who support 1 . continued on pg 7 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor NORTHERN WOMAN page 4 �*********************** * * * Ontario Women's Directorate * RESOURCE CENTRE * * *********************** A new TV and VCR for previewing videos in the office are two new resources available to the commmity. We now have an audio cassette of THE COURAGE PO HEAL: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Assault and a cassette of Elly Danica's Morningside interview. Elly Canica is the author of DON'T: A Woman's Word/ Four copies of each book are also available to borrow. WIFE ASSAULT PREVENTICN MONTH WOMEN AND POLITICS consists of six one-hour programs designed to help women achieve, exercise and hold on to political power. This video series presents highlights of a twoday conference held in November 1986 at Ryerson. Host Rosemary Brown introduces participants such as Chaviva Hosek, Michele Landsberg, Kay Sigurjonsson and Maude Barlow. A 48 page booklet comes with the NOVEMEiER 1989 series. November has again been chosen for the public education campaigns of Ontario Women's Directorate and public This community groups. education campaign ties in with November 25th - International Day EREADUNG FREE is a video recently purchased from the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women Disability Awareness Project. Disabled women present their Against Violence Against Women. experiences. Committees and groups active in area of wife assault prevention will have ,rpceived -information and grant to funding up for applications education a public for $1,500 project. that reflect must Projects "Wife Assault is a Crime" and that the community has a responsibility to address this issue. APPLICATIONS !CST BE violence prepared for and used in schools in London, Ontario also is available. Amazons and Military Maids: Women who Dressed as Men in Pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness, Julie Wheelwright Politics of Reproduction, Mary O'Brien northern organizations Story Behind Child custody, The Susan Crean Children's Story: Sexually Molested Children in Criminal Court, Judge Sandra Butler Smith (US). looking for this? Immigrants need to be part of the Ontario Community and contribute to economic and social development. Ontario has skills shortages and many of the immigrants that have came to Canada are skilled to work in many kinds of jobs. Immigrants need to improve their level of income and to be able to make enough money to cover their basic living and social needs. They don't want to stay on social assistance and be a burden to learn society. They need to English to qualify for professions, community by the selection committee to participate in the Sumer Experience '89 chosen to have the opportunity to finish their studies or to have specific training in order to get skilled program. The Directorate's Northern Office will have a student working on jobs. immigrants will have these opportunities, it will be easy for society to fill its skills shortage and together Canadians and newcomers can work for the development of Canada. Maria Albizurez If several projects this summer: - the development of an employment equity information mailing list - the cataloguing of written materials in the Resource Centre - the development of a catalogued video /film section of the Resource Centre, and - the updating of last years Directory of Women's Organizations in Northern Ontario The Thunder Bay Immigrant Women's Planning Committee is trying to open doors for immigrants to enter educational programs. Why are they its In the Name of the Fathers; Beendigan, Women in Crisis, SiouxHudson-North, Women's Place Kenora and Mattawa Family Resource Centre IMET.GRANT VEMEN IN TEENIER BAY SOME NEW BOOKS Seam Allowance, Industrial Home Sewing in Canada, Laura Johnson SUMMER EXPERIENCE 7171,7Wrl PS WE CARE, a K-13 school curriculum discussing the issue of family RECIll[VED BY AUGUST 4th are 1960 - Birth control pills go on sale. 1943 - Betty Frfedan's The Feminine Mystique becomes war cry of women's movement. 1967 - Ottawa appoints Royal Commission on Status of Women. 1969 - Criminal Code amended, making abortion legal if approved by a hospital's therapeutic abortion committee. 1970 - First women's studies course given at Uni versa./ of Toronto. 1971 - Robert Andras appointed first federal cabinet minister responsible for status of women. 1972 - NationalAction Committee on We Status of Women founded. 1973 - Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women established. 1962 - Bertha Wilson first woman appointed to Supreme Court of Canada. 1984 - Jeanne Sauve appointed first woman Gov. ernor General of Canada. 1984 - Ottawa passes Bill C-82, dealing with of action for women, visible minorities, disabled. 1957 - Coalition of women's groups protest Meech Lake constitutional accord. 1988 - Abortion law struck down by Supreme Court. Coordinating Shelters, REMINDER: Milestones for feminism This page is sponsored by the Ontario Women's Directorate. The material contained on it may be photocopied and distributed without permission, but with credit to the original source or the Ontario Women's Directorate. NORTHERN WOMAN page 5 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �PAY EQUITY WHAT DO YOu WANT TO BE WHEN YOu C3ROw uP 7 GIRLS CAN BE ANYTHING THEY wAryT TO BE THESE DAYS BRAIN SURGEON. .COLLEGE PROCESSOR PRESIDENT ..YOu SHOULD DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM I by LYNN BEAK HOW ABOUT PAID EQUALLY? Pay Equity? What is it anyway? We've all heard the term and associated it with an increase in women's wages. But how and why? It seems that so much is still unclear. EQUAL PAY FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE Part of the confusion comes from the fact that pay equity is a recent term for an old concept - equal pay for work of equal value - an idea that has been debated and fought for by women throughout the world since the turn of the century. In the USA another term is used - comparable worth - for the same concept. So what does it mean? In its simplest form it is the idea that men and women should be paid the same level of wages for doing the work that they do in the paid labour force, even though men and women traditionally, and even now, have done different kinds of work. It is the idea that waitresses and truck drivers should have the same starting wage and should progress on the same kind of wage scale. Although trade unions and governments (including Canada) had endorsed the concept of equal pay for work of equal value since the early 1950's, little practical change occured in Canada until the mid 1970's. EQUAL PAX FOR EQUAL WORK DISTINGUISHED During this same period of time, women were also fighting for equal pay for equal work, so that when men and women did the same job they would receive the same pay. Until the 1950s it was very common for male and female account clerks (for example) to do the same job in the same company and be paid different wages. Teaching salaries were also significantly different for men and women. By 1951 Ontario and then other provinces had passed laws that required employers to pay men and women doing the same work the same wage. There were a few exceptions, seniority being one of them. Why were laws like this necessary? The reasons are complex, for an excellent discussion, see the early chapters of Just Give Us The Money: A Discussion of Wage Discrimination and Pay Equity, and its thorough bibliography. (Just Give Us the Money - Women's Re-search Centre, Ste. 101, 2245 Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6K 2E4, (604) 734-0485) In summary, some reasons are women's limited participation in trade unions; the belief that men should be'paid a "family wage" high enough to cover the needs of the family unit and that women therefore only needed enough to cover supplementary expenses (pin money); the fact that many women did the same work that was done, unpaid, in the home - cleaning, cooking, services, child care, etc.; and ultimately, the difference in wages was caused because employers could get away with it since not enough people objected strenuously. 9Du'vE 6OTTA BE REALISTIC.. Err" 1-tuLME Noss ...aim Swat -TV not without its flaws. Men's wages have not traditionally been based on a logical, rational assessment of their value to an employer. Men fought for an average industrial wage based on the cost of living and raising a family, not on the intrinsic "worth" of the work being performed. Many people also disagree with comparing the "value" of work... why should a garbage collector be be paid less than an accountant? What notion of value should be used - value to an employer, value to society as a whole? Also, at this time, neither employers or employees have experience "valuing" jobs. It requires an expert, a "job evaluation" consultant to train employers and perhaps also employees and union members to speak this new language. There are fears that there is sex bias built into the theory and language of job evaluation in the same way that sex bias is built into so many facets of our society already and that women will therefore be fighting the same battles after learning the rules of this new industry. Nevertheless, job evaluation within the parameters of the EPFEV concept has been endorsed and is now being implemented in Canada and many other countries. It will be a task for women to monitor this concept and determine if it has led to the achievement we fought for namely, reducing the wage gap between men and women. At present women earn 64c for every dollar that men earn when they both work full time. It has been calculated, in the Ontario Green Paper on Pay Equity, that wage discrimination accounts for approximately 10c to 12c of that wage gap and that in theory pay equity would therefore raise the wages of women overall by that amount. However, since some employers are excluded (private sector employers with less than 10 employees) and since many workplaces will not have male groups against which to compare their female employees (ie hospitals, day care centres), it is unlikely that the wage gap based on wage discrimination will be closed. THE CANADIAN EXPERIENCE By the 1970s women's organizations had done the research to show how little women were paid for their full time work compared to men working full time. As the women's movement developed, a key component was fr4E f'. 7 increasing women's economic p increasing our wages. In 1977 the federal gover added an equal pay for work of value provision to the Canadia man Rights Code. Over the year ce, it has been infrequently a major factor has been that complaint-based system which r an individual woman to make a plaint against her employer an low through for a period of y while the complaint is investi and decided. Most successful c ints were made by unions since had the resources to do the re and the onus was not put on an vidual woman to expose hersel the possible harassment, lack motion and a great demand on that an individual complaint w bring. By the 1980's several Ame states had implemented_w4At t called "pay equity" which was same concept implemented in a ent form. An individual compl system assumes that violations the rarity and that most emplo are complying with the law. S know that this is not the case that most employers are not pa women equally, a different app is necessary. Minnesota devised a syste their state employees which as that all womens' jobs needed t looked at for pay discriminat This system was adopted by Man for their provincial employees some other sectors (hospitals, and then by Ontario for all t sectors: all provincial emplo all broader public sector (ho municipalities, school boards, leges and agencies fully funde the government); and private s employers who have more than 1 ployees. Ontario's decision to imp pay equity came following year active lobbying by the Equal Coalition, women's groups and unions. This is the first part of a 2 article on pay equity. The sec page, to be published next iss will focus on the Ontario legi and the impact that it is havi women's wages in the workplace Lynn Beak 416 a 6otmek membet o NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL catect and ha4 Jong been active in t women'is movement. EQUALNORTHERN.WOMAL..page-6 PAY FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE: THE CONCEPT, Although women's groups have supported and fought for implementation of equal pay for work of equal value (E.P.F.E.V.) systems, it is PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Long Distance Delivery: regional model believe it ensures higher quality care and fewer baby deaths. The unfortunate effect of the regional model is that it tends to centralize services in large urban hospitals. The result is that more women have to travel away from their home community to give birth, and that, as we learned from the women affected, is often a stressful experience. It means that women lose access to the more intimate, familycentred care offered in smaller hos- continued from pg 4 Such things as diabetes, a history of premature delivery, or the fact that she is carrying twins can put mother and baby at risk. In these cases, both would benefit from careful monitoring in a hospital where specialists can act quickly if problems arise. More than likely a woman in this situation would travel to the large hospital well before her due date. Whether or not she made the trip by ambulance would depend on her condition. Sometimes women choose to have out-of-town birth. They may prefer to have access to pain medication, like an epidural, which may not be available in small hospitals. Others feel more confident knowing they will give birth in a large hospital. This was the case for one woman from Red Lake. She had her second baby in Winnipeg because her first child needed an emergency transfer shortly after birth. "The doctors here are good, but they just don't have the equipment like they do in the city. My doctor and I agreed I would go to Winnipeg. If we ran into problems, the intensive care unit would be there. I was a lot more relaxed knowing an pitals. Groups such as the Advisory Committee on Reproductive Care appointed by the Ontario Ministry of Health, caution in their 1988 report "Reproductive Care: Towards the 1990s", that routinely sending women to large regional hospitals is creating an unrealistic load for specialists. The committee suggests that if appropriate supports are put in place -- such as opportunities for doctors and nurses to strengthen their birthing skills-- quality care can be provided in smaller hospitals. Not all community hospitals have withdrawn birthing services. In Red Lake for example, the doctors have a strong commitment to birth with as little intervention as possible. Women are able to labour and deliver in the local hospital. They are transferred only if there are medical reasons that would make it safer for them to be cared for in a larger hospital. They are usually sent to Winnipeg or Thunder Bay. 11 A A, In the booklet we discuss some of the common medical reasons for a transfer. We hope this will give women the information they need to be better prepared and to know what questions to ask if they face this situation. Before some obstetrical procedures can be done, there must be an operating room and adequate staff available for surgery if it is needed. This is true, for instance, if a woman chooses to have a VBAC -- vaginal birth after Cesearean -- where the possibility of a Cesearean is considered higher. It's also true if a woman has high blood pressure which cannot be controlled, leading to a condition called pre-eclampsia. Her labour may be induced. In both situations, safe obstetrical practice requires that a Cesearean section is planned for, just in case. If a small hospital cannot provide this surgical back-up, a woman would have to be sent to another hospital. A woman from Sioux Lookout told us, "Never in our wildest dreams did we think that after doing so well I would run into problems 24 hours into labour. It was arranged for me to be transferred to Thunder Bay. I remember feeling panic at first, but I quickly relaxed. I was to fly on Bandage Five (the Ministry of Health air ambulance). This was reassuring because I am familiar with how well equipped it is." the care of older children may affect where the birth takes place and how long she may stay in hospital. And an out-of-town birth can be expensive. There are costs for travel, accommodation, and long-distance telephone calls. "The doctor said make sure you take your Visa. Then we were on our own," recalled another Red Lake woman who was transferred for the premature birth of her first son. "My husband stayed at a hotel across from the hospital and he had to get meals. We had to pay for our own air fare home. If you don't want to sit in a car for five hours with a newborn, flying is the fastest way to get back. We figure it cost us between $600 and $800." 14, 61 iJ IJ ),./ Mw N w 1.4 N w MJ 4-0 tut 6,./ 16/ NJ 1.-1 4 LJ W 4J 11.1 161 4 L.1 iou M. that." Can an out-of-town birth be a positive experience? Many women say they are glad they chose to travel away, especially if they or their baby needed specialized care. But most admit it was by planning ahead that they were able to make their birth a positive event. For instance, it's not always necessary to go to the closest hosgive birth. Going "home" to pital the community where family and friends can offer support before and after the baby arrives may be a better choice. A Sioux Lookout woman planned a VBAC with her second baby this way. She went to Hamilton, where she had family. "I wanted to try a vaginal birth and they wouldn't give me a trial of labour here. I contacted a friend in Thunder Bay who is a midwife and she gave me the names of a couple of midwives in Hamilton. I went down when I was four or five months pregnant and found a midwife I really liked... It was worth it to me to go that far to have a vaginal birth. I didn't think VBACs were being done in Thunder Bay and didn't know any-. one I could stay with. The birth was just wonderful. Cameron was born and we went home three hours later." In planning an out-of-town birth, it's important for women to consider their needs. If others will be involved- a partner or relative and older children - what do they need? The plans a woman can make for 111 \I :VW' I) ) 3- ( In Northern Ontario, if medical care is not available locally, the cost of travel to obtain that care is partially covered by the Northern Health Travel Grant. The prosram is administered by the Min- stry o7ealt IrdarriTtOrtirfteglim."""' natal care and out-of-town birth. However, there are restrictions. The person claiming the grant must be a minimum of 250 kilometres away from the needed services. The grant doesn't cover a companion's travel costs, unless the patient is under 18 years of age. And the grant only applies if a patient sees a certified specialist. Some women have found they did not receive the grant if they went for prenatal visits with a general practitioner rather than an obstetrician. Through all the conversations we've had with regional women, we know that having an out-of-town birth places extra demands on a woman at a time when she needs things to be less stressful. It's more difficult to find a doctor and investigate choices for the birth when it will take place far from home. It's harder to find out about hospital policy for labour and delivery. Even planning where to stay before the delivery is an added worry. We've tried to address these concerns in the booklet with practical advice. We hope this will help to reduce the isolation women in out-lying areas feel as they plan for their birth. Women have told us how important it is to ask questions and be firm about what you want. They feel it can make a difference of a woman tells those caring for her that she's from outcontinued on pg 13 NORTHERN WOMAN page 7 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �The Women's Movement and Struggles in the Philippines .The 6ottowing antic& is taken 6tom an adottess given by Netia Sancho to the zecond Women's Intetnationa, Saidakity Aailc in the Phitippines NeZia Sancho (WISAP) had in 1987. Lo National Secketaty Genekat, o6 GABRIELA. Whenever historians discuss the status of women in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the Spanish colonizers, they usually paint a more egalitarian picture. Pre-colonial Filipino women, it is said, occupied a high social position. They enjoyed a large measure of freedom which was unknown to women of other Oriental countries. As they were free, they were able to participate in social, economic and political activities to the advantage of both individual and society. They commanded the respect of men; they were protected by the native laws and they possessed civil and political rights. Except in the Islamic societies in southern Philippines, marriage was monogamous, and women retained their names after marriage. Divorce was by mutual consent. Women could inherit and dispose of property in their own right. In some instances, the position of chieftain could be passed on to the eldest daughter. Also,. many of the religious leaders of that day were women. Colonization by Spain and the subsequent imposition of Catholic Spanish culture, which was very patriarchal and oppressive to women changed all this. If indeed, women's oppression was not the norm in pre-colonial Philippines, it became a socially held ideal during the 300 years of Spanish rule. Under the Spanish Civil Code, the rights of married women became severely restricted. Divorce was not allowed; women had no right of disposal over property brought into their marriages, could not engage in any outside economic activity without the formal consent of their husbands, and could hold no public office except that of teacher. The almost wholehearted acceptance of the religion and culture of the Spanish moulded the values and attitudes of Filipino women, making it possible for them to internalize these values. Catholicism inculcated in them the notion of male superiority and endowed it with the strength of religious dogma. Relationships between males and females were regulated by an elaborate set of conventions, which effectively made the female the passive object of male. Women were segregated into the domestic sphere; although women of the peasantry still laboured by the side of males in the field, the dominant ethos was one in which they were economically non-active and socially non-initiating. It is not surprising therefore, to find that an organized women's movement in the Philippines first stirred to life only towards the end of the 19th century. Conceived in the womb of the anti-colonial struggle against Spain and the U.S., one of the first women's groups to emerge was composed of enlightened women of the intelligentia and other women of the upper classes. One of its leading members, Trinidad Tecson, was later to join the revolutionary war as a woman general. WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN ANTI COLONIAL STRUGGLES PAVED THE WAY FOR THE ARTICULATION OF WOMEN'S PROBLEMS AND ISSUES Many other women participated in the anti-colonial revolutionary war in various capacities -- some as guerillas directly engaging the enemy in battle, and others as members of auxilary groups. Still others, like Melchora Aquino or Tandang Sora, quietly gave aid and succor to wounded revolutionaries, even at great risk to their lives. Today, we remember these courageous women and salute them for their invaluable contributions to the anti-colonial struggle. Women's participation in these struggles also paved the way for the articulation of some women's problems and issues, such as their right to formal education. Later, but with the advent of the Fil-American War and the subsequent colonization of the Philippines by the U.S., free public education was extended to Filipino boys and girls as part of the general effort to quell the insurgency then being waged by Filipino revolutionary forces. While education succeeded in bringing women out of their homes, it did not lead women to question either their subordinate position within society and the family or the deeper roots of their and the people's oppression. This method of captivating the minds of Filipinos through colonial education had its corresponding impact on the emergent women's groups at the turn of the century. On the one hand, it lead to the creation in 1902 of the Liga Femenina de la Paz, which supported the U.S. forces "pacification drive" against Filipino insurgents. In reality, however, the "pacification drive" was a massive suppression campaign that led to the death and displacement of millions of Filipinos. The rise of such a woman's group signalled the beginning of a relatively long era of cooptation for the women's movement in the country. ADVANCE THE MILITANT WOMENS MOVEMENT Ii IN THE PHILIPPINES. HI 1 1 1 KJNESIS Subsequent women's organizations advocated the right of women's suffrage. This latter development saw the formation of a women's movement whose main concern was to advance the women's right to vote and to achieve legal equality so that they could fully participate in the electoral processes as defined within the framework of U.S. sponsored elite democracy. KJNESIS The women's groups that followed, which engaged in socio-civic won and which were mainly led by elite w( en, tended to follow this general pa tern of working within the existing social framework, with little or no effort to critically examine what HI at the root of women's oppression or of social ills. No genuine women's movement can be said to have existed during this period. What existed were aggrupations of women whose efforts were not specifically directed towan the advancement of women's particular issues or problems. Except for the ii volvement of some women guerillas an political activists in the Huk movement of the 50s, there were also no other systematic attempts to at least harness the participation of women on a massive scale for any significant social cause. IN ADDITION TO RECEIVING LOW CCFPENSATION FOR THEIR LABOR, WOMEN HAD TO CONTEND WITH SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION Meanwhile, women's oppression continued. As peasants, workers and poorly paid professionals, they frequently suffered even much more than the men of their own class. In addition to receiving low compensation for their labor, they had to contend with sexual harassment and discrimination. Since the vast majority of the unemployed and underemployed were woe en, this led to their economic and political marginalization and their treatment as second-class citizens. This situation in turn became fertile ground for the flourishing of dehumanizing and anti-women practices the commodification and sexual objectification of women in prostitution, pornography, mail-order brides and the trafficking of Filipinas. Within the family, women largely con. .tinned to be denied choices other than to perform the socially ascribed but limiting roles of wife, mother, or dutiful daughter. In many re spects, elite Filipino women achieved, through education, the legal or social appearance of freedom. But in essence, they remained subservient beings, especially within the family and continued to suffer from the prevailing system of patriarchy. It was in the late '60s and early '70s that a different kind of women's group emerged. The women's group, founded by political activist patriot and poet, Ma. Lorena Barros, was aptly named the Makabayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA) or the New Women's Patriotic Movement. PDF compression, page 8web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor NORTHERN WOMAN OCR, �The new groups's acronym, MAKIBAKA, which meant "struggle" was also an appropriate choice. For along with other national democratic or-. ganizations, this new group bannered the struggles of peasants, workers, the middle class intelligentsia and nationalist businessmen for a society free from the shackles of foreign domination, feudal oppression and state terrorism. MAKIBAKA sought to mobilize Filipino women in their millions to join the organized people's struggle for national sovereignty and genuine democracy. But more than this, MAKIBAKA also started to address the issue of women's distinct oppression and recog-, nized that the Filipino people's liberation can never be accomplished without the liberation of women. The Aquino government then proGABRIELA REGISTERS A NAME IN THE MINDS posed the ceasefire policy with all OF THE PUBLIC THROUGH ITS CONSISTENTLY armed groups engaged in insurgency. ACTIVE AND MILITANT PARTICIPATION IN It went NATIONAL STRUGGLES FOR JUSTICE AND into peace talks and negotiations. The people's organizations, inFOR WOMEN'S RIGHTS ISSUES cluding GABRIELA and other women's groups, GABRIELA has since grown, fromrejoiced then at what they thought an assembly that attracted mainly to be a sincere desire of the to solve the social causes middle class women, into a government national of the insurgency. The women's groups coalition of about 100 women's organshowed their support for the peace izations, which span across the difprocess by forming a Women's Peace ferent regions and represent a crossCommittee. GABRIELA also joined othsection of sectors and classes of er women in drawing up the "Women's Philippine society. Agenda for a Full and Lasting Peace" Ever since its birthingand in presented 1984, this to the government GABRIELA has registered a name in and the NDF peace panels. the minds of the general public throIn presenting this agenda the ugh its consistently active women's and mil-groups declared: "We believe itant participation in national that struthe roots of insurgency - the unggles for justice and for women's equal distribution of our resources rights issues. Immediately after its and foreign control of the country founding GABRIELA joined the foreare the very same conditions that blofront of the struggle of theckFilipino the economic and political progress people to topple the Marcos of dictatorFilipino women. Putting forward the ship. women's agenda, therefore. helps not Together with the revitalization only in attacking the roots of insurin late 1986 of the underground womgency, but also in seeking the broaden's group MAKIBAKA, the emergence of est participation and support of womGABRIELA represents the highest point en for just and basic social reforms to date in the development of a Philthat could lead then to a full and ippine women's movement. We lasting now have peace." a women's movement that, in the words of a sister in struggle, Maita Gomez "seeks to change a whole society, THE WCMEN'S AGENDA CALLS FOR A with a vision of the future where THAT GUARANTEES WOMEN feudalisn, imperialism, fascismSOCIETY and EQUAL RIGHTS WITHIN AND OUTSIDE inequality for women will have been THE FAMILY, AND ENSURES FREEDOM overcome". FROM ALL FORMS OF VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ABUSE AND HARASSMENT The imposition of martial rule in 1972 nipped in the bud MAKIBAKA's attempt to develop a revolutionary women's movement. MAKIBAKA's cause, however, stayed alive with the continued participation of thousands of women who undertook revolutionary work in various capacities. In both countryside and urban areas, women engaged in organizing and propaganda work in the underground and in the legal sphere. Not a few took the option to fight alongside their male comrades as guerillas of the New People's Army. Throughout the dark days of martial rule, women gave their share in suffering and struggle. Among the women who became victims of repressive martial rule was MAKIBAKA founder Ma. Lorena Barros, who was killed in 1976 while leading The Women's Agenda calls for a self-reliant economy that undertakes a squad of uerillas in the mountains comprehensive land reform and a natIn 1978, a number of courageous women, some of them involved in the ionalist industrialization program, In-WOMAIrrfITCRrICAULTR'711111P1 , .4.especially bP4O411EPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM suffrage movement in the 1930s, grouas these pertain to adMIRRORS i4ER FugmT3o LIVE ped themselves together in their coldressing the issue of women's lack -TOTAt AN g FlittY lective disgust over the rampant fraof control of resources or access uds committed during the first parlito land and jobs which have led to amentary elections. The result is the their further marginalization and Concerned Women of the Philippines. sense of powerlessness. The agenda also called for the exercise of full But it was the Aquino assassin-P sovereignty and freedom from foreign ation in 1983 and the heightened polintervention and control and the conitical and economic crisis that folvening of a genuinely representative lowed which spurred a massive polit.people's government, which should inical awakening among millions of Filclude women's representation at all ipino men and women. Hitherto uninlevels. The women's agenda, too, volved members of the middle class calls for a society that guarantees joined those from grassroots organiwomen equal rights within and outzations who had long been taking to side the family, and ensures freedom the streets to demand basic changes. from all forms of violence, sexual Among the first to protest the Aquino abuse and harassment. It demands the Struggling to attain this visassassination were various women's women's basic right to have control ion has all the more become urgent groups, which held an all-women's over their own bodies, especially for the progressive women's movement march in October that mobilized in decisions related to the number today. 12000 women from all walks of life.Like everyone else who activeof children and use of contraception. supported the struggles against This historical all-women's ly march deUnder the new government,women's dictatorship, the Filipino woman was manded justice for Aquino and all vicgroups first sought to include these hopeful that the new government tims of military repression very and calldemands in the constitution that was installed ed for an end to the Marcos dictator- to power in February 1986 being drafted in 1986. But the prewould be able to effect the needed ship. dominantly elitist and male dominathat would alleviate the opA few months later, in changes March ted constitutional commission sucpressed 1984, politically active women from conditions of Filipino women ceeded in diluting or deliminating and men. the ranks of workers, peasants, urban these demands, retaining only a vaThe new government did lift the poor, professionals, and the business gue passage that refers to "recogon the press and on puband religious sectors gave arestrictions new dimnition of women's equality before assemblies, and freed the most ension to the celebration oflic Internathe law". prominent political prisoners from tional Women's Day by convening the detention. It dissolved the rubber General Assembly Binding Women for stamp parliament, formed a commission Reforms, Integrity, Equality, Leaderto draft a new constitution, repealed ship, and Action or GABRIELA. Again, a number of decrees that were represthe choice of GABRIELA as an acronym sive to workers, and formally recogis a fitting tribute to the memory of nized the just causes of the armed a courageous woman, Gabriela Silang, struggle being waged by the New Peowho led one of the major uprisings ple's Army of the National Democratic against Spanish colonial rule in the Front. 18th century. cortinued on pg 10 ;4 1 9 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor NORTHERN WOMAN page �continued from pg 9 The same demands were presented during the peace negotiations. But the peace talks broke down. Despite the existence of a ceasefire agreement, the Armed Forces of the Philippines began to press the civilian government for a more thoroughgoing counterinsurgency program. During the ceasefire period, peasant marchers seeking land reform were shot, killing 19 rallyists. The AFP was allowed to continue with its military buildup. Military campaigns in the guise of keeping day to day peace and order, continued to be launched in the countryside. While it is true that prominent political prisoners were freed, hundreds still languished in jail. Among them is Miriam Dugay, a church social worker and community organizaer, who was arrested without warrant in mid 1986. She has been ordered freed by a civilian court, but the military authorities continue to hold her in defiance of the court order. Neither Mrs. Aquino nor any other high government official has intervened in her behalf, despite several appeals for her release.. MILITARIZATION IS VERY MUCH A WOMEN'S ISSUE With these recent developments, it has become more and more evident to people's .organizations and women's groups that the Aquino government lacks the political will to institute basic social reforms being demanded by the dAprived sectors'of the society. It was also becoming clear to the organized basic sectors that as the Aquino government moves to strengthen parliamentary processes in the country by having a new constitution ratified and calling for new legislative and local elections, it has veered more and more towards defining itself as a government for the elite with a plethora of unfulfilled promises for the Filipino people. OUR VISION OF A TRULY JUST, FREE AND EGALITARIAN SOCIETY WILL BE DIFFICULT TO ATTAIN SOLELY WITHIN THE FORMAL PARLIAMENTARY FRAMEWORK While women's groups have formed the Kababaihan para sa Inang Bayan or KAIBA, a women's political party, to enter electoral politics and maximize whatever advantages this has to offer, a pragmatic assessment of the situation reveals that the fulfillment of our vision of a truly just, free and egalitarian society will be difficult to attain solely within the formal parliamentary framework. For the progressive women's movement, this means reconvening the parliament of the streets, building up our own organized strength, particularly among grassroots women, securing step-by-step our demands as put forth in the Women's Agenda. Thus, it has to address vigorously, the need for equal rights in the political, economic, cultural and family spheres, and the demand of women workers, peasants and urban poor women for land, jobs, homes to live in and health to enjoy. The women's movement in the Philippines today see the resolution of these problems and demands as the cornerstone to create substantially women's development and empowerment. Despite the patina of liberalism and popularity possessed by Mrs. Aquino's form of rule, her government has been gradually showing itself open, ready and unhesitating to utilize as much brutal force as the past regime had done, to enforce its will on the people. On February 8, 1987, Mrs. Aquino has instructed "soldiers" to push through with its military offensives against the insurgents. Two days after, despite her admonition to the Armed Forces to conduct military operations with "respect for the human rights of civilians" the massacre of 17 civilians took place. Today, the progressive women's movement's capability to respond to the continued oppressive conditions of the women has to be developed. The women's keenness and sensitivit3 to their problems will inevitably lead women to expose and condemn ha/ assment, and other forms of militar3 abuse such as bombings, strafings, hamletting, forced evacuations, summary executions and arbitrary arrest Militarization is very much a women' issue, especially in the countryside because women feel its exacerbating effects to women's poor health and state of malnutrition, lack of contr and decision over her life, low and marginalized position both within th family and the larger society. THE PHILIPPINES WCMEN'S STRUGGLE IS TO CHALLENGE AS WELL AS CHANGE PREVAILING VALUE SYSTEMS THAT CONTINUE TO RELEGATE WOMEN AS PASSIVE, SUBORDINATE OR AS SEX OBJECTS AND COMMIDITION I have presented, in a nutshel] the historical development of our we en's movement and the full dimensioi of women's struggles in the Philipp: nes. It is a complex struggle again: foreign domination, feudal exploitation, fascist repression, and the ul equal, patriarchal social structure! that are oppressive to women. It is a struggle to expose the betrayal o our people by a seemingly liberal g( ernment that is in essence repressi, and unresponsive to the plight of d disadvantaged and marginalized sect including women. It is a struggle rise above these fetters and develo the necessary strength to achieve o goals. And it is a struggle to chal enge as well as to change prevailin value systems that continue to rele gate women as passive, subordinate or as sex objects and commodition. Books Feminist theory fiction health poetry spirituality peace international periodicals NORTHERN WOMAN'S BOOKSTORE 184 Camelot St, 344-7979 page 10 PDF compression, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor NORTHERN WOMAN OCR, �The Red Maiden's Tale by JOSIE WALLENIUS Did that Harmonic Convergance really happen? What are we drifting towards? How much do our visions empower us, how much do they blind us to reality? I am frightened! There are things happening in the cosmos, I have no doubt of that, but at this critical moment of consciousness, I refuse to take my feet off the ground, and I crave an honest debate. I crave a debate between women who see the Patriarchy as the main root of oppression, and women like myself who see capitalism as the root. We are called "rads" and "reds" by some, including the Trading Godfathers who must be very happy about this division. Do the "rads" know that Ronald Reagan sent his daughter Maureen Reagan to the Nairobi conference at the end of the U.N. decade of women with instructions to keep the debate ON women, and OFF Peace and justice. The men who control that old fool know what they are doing. The debate between "rads" and "reds" surfaces and sinks, surfaces and sinks, but never sinks too far below the surface. We never do enough holding of hands to sink to the bottom together, tp explore the slime at the bottom, to examine the roots together, to ask of ourselves if we are half wrong about things, or both Victim. "Because I believed that the newspapers were lying." GASPS FROM EVERYBODY. Prosecutor. "You didn't believe the newspaper, I see. What did you believe?" Victim. "I am a huwoman, and I believed that I was watching the beginning of the North American Indian experiment in Africa. In 'Oil area 15 Africafreemerica' it was going to be done under the camouflage of anti terrorism, and in the South of the continent by the silence strategy. Prosecutor. I am not talking about the silence, I am talking about terrorism. You admit, I hope, that terrorism, once the greatest human crime has been eliminated by US. Prosecutor... "I see. I want to ask you if you condone what the leader of 'Oil area no. 15 Africafreeamerica' did in the seventies and eighties of the last century?" "You mean land distribution, education, social services and chucking out U.S. military bases?" Victim. Prosecutor. "I mean terrorist acts." SILENCE. Prosecutor. "I would remind you that you are on trial for treason, and I am asking you if you condone the wanton acts of terrorism, the blowing up of civilian planes and the loss of white Freemerican blood?" Victim. "And I am asking you about South Africa." SILENCE. Prosecutor. "You mean gold, uranium, platinum area no.3 africafreemerica?" 41 4itiv right. I remember a "rad", a good friend, who laughed at me once saying "If you had your socialism, men would still beat their wives". I remember reading Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale", her prophetic vision of the Patriarchy gone berserk. My hair stood on end when I read that. "Red" feminists have prophetic fears too though, and I want to write about them. In a strange kind of way I would almost rather want Atwood's tale to come true than mine, if either does, because if mine does, the Western Women's Movement gave birth to nothing, and I don't want to believe that. Prosecutor. Victim. "But in El Salvador...." Prosecutor. "Objection your honour, it is illegal to call the 'Coffee area no. 4 Freemerica' by its old name. Judge. The scene takes place in a courtroom in the year 2050 in the capital of Canadafreemerica, Ottowa. There is a woman on trial, on a charge of sedition against freedom, a treasonable offence. She is being questioned by a woman prosecuter, in front of a woman judge, in front of an all woman jury. The women have blond hair. She is the last huwoman to stand trial. All of the others have been tried before her, and found guilty of sedition against freedom. Do you admit that?" "Sustained." "Thank you my lady. Now Prosecutor. (turning to victim) are you aware, do you admit, that we, Freemerica, eliminated the crimes of terrorism that sprung from 'Oil area 15'. "To my knowledge, the first move towards the Native American Indian experiment in Africa started with the blaming of the bombing of the Berlin discotheque by a Western European group on Libya, they said it was Libya who.... Victim. Prosecutor. uage." Judge. Victim. Victim. . "yes." "At that time, yo,. remen- GASPS FROM EVERYBODY. ber, we were getting rid of that terrible phenomenum terrorism. Why did you go to that area?" Judge. "Objection." "Sustained." Prosecutor. "I insist on an answer about your attitude to the crime of terrorism, the crime we have now eliminated." "You know, I used to wonder what I would do if all my family was killed, and all my village bombed, and the only people who could stop it were the ones in America watching T.V. I mean to realize that you had to do something really terrible to get on T.V. I used to wonder in fact if there were a lot of potential huwomen watchVictim. ing T.V. Prosecutor. "It is obvious that you condoned terrorism." SILENCE. NODS. THE JUDGE NODS, THE JURY "Objection sustained. Thank you. (turns to vicProsecutor. tim) you said that 'Oil area no. 15 Africafreemerica' was not responsible?" ''rosecutor. Prosecutor. "Objection, illegal lang- Prcsecutor, "I want to take you back to 1989, when you made a second visit to our part of the world Oil area no.15 Africamerica." "yes". Victim. "No, I mean South Africa before the silence." Prosecutor. "Thank you, your silence speaks for you. Now I want you to explain to the jury why you visited 'Coffee Area n. 1 freemerica' in 1986?" Victim. "You mean Nicaragua?" Prosecutor. Judge. "Objection." "Sustained." continued pg 12 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor NORTHERN WOMAN page 11 �The Red Maiden's Tale THE JURY FILE OUT HOLDING THEIR CRYSTALS, THE VICTIM TAKES OUT HER CRYSTAL AND HER BODHRAN DRUM, AND SHE STARTS TO STRUM AN OLD TUNE. "Very well, we will Prosecutor. move onto the next question, your attire. I see you have rags on?" "I have always refused to wear clothes from the Philippines." Victim. "Thank you my Lady. Prosecutor. (Turns to victim) Why did you go to that area?" Prosecutor. language." Judge. TEARS START TRICKLING DOWN SILENCE. VICTIM'S FACE. Prosecutor. Victim. dreams." "Why?" "Because I believed in "I am asking you if you Prosector. agree that it is better for all of us that we now have free Plantation Areas in Freemerica No. 1,2,3,4,5. Victim. THE JURY FILES BACK, AND BRINGS IN A VERDICT OF GUILTY OF SEDITION AGAINST FREEDOM. "Objection, illegal The National Anthem starts pla ing, the National Anthem is a song that became very popular in 1990. I is called "Towards a Kinder and Gen ler Freemerica" and the victim is led outside by two women jailers towards the fire and towards the stak, There are multitudes of people watt] ing, fair families, gentle kind families, women, men, and children. Th air was pure as they had learnt to sue for it, and they watched as the victim flung her crystal away, clue ched tight her old Bodhran drum, am walked into the flames to claim her husisters, the others who had gone "Objection sustained." "You refuse to wear Prosecutor. clothes from 'Garment Area No. 6 Asiafreemerica?" Victim. "Yes." "You know that that Prosecutor. area is the only source of clothing for our women, that there were no clothes made in Canadafreemerica afDo you deny our women the ter 1995. freedom to be clothed?" "No, I am a huwoman." before .her. SILENCE. "For the record, when Prosecutor. did you join the tribe of ' huwomen'. "When I woke up one morning Victim. and had a salty taste in my mouth, I thought at first my mouth had been bleeding." GASPS OF DISGUST FROM ALL PRESENT EXCEPT THE,'VICTIM. "Women, I have Prosecutor to jury. before me a woman who calls herself a huwoman who questions the fundamental right of Canadafreemerican women to decent food and clothing, a fundamental right and freedom gained after a century of free struggle. She stands accused of sedition against freedom, I ask you to take your crystals out and meditate." an au/Liz-tic &ton Jozie Watteniu4 tettek and a membet o6 the G.G.W.W. union (Gtabat GuevuLtta Women Wo-k I am told despair never completely spends itself in one generation, that a residue of collective despair nests in the subconscious for centuries. I sometimes feel its morbid tendrils in rooms raucous with the laughter of survivors a message written in invisible ink blinking off and on through the mascara. Some feeling that a tender word would shatter the mirror and expose more grief than anyone could bear, a loss of faith and face, a collective remorseless guilt for being less than we are by our own standards. I know this rage that lurks below the good manners and the careful rhetoric of the disappointed. It is a necessary part of our development the fuel of our new politic. Gert Beadle PDF compression, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor page 12 NORTHERN WOMAN OCR, �continued from pg 7 Long Distance Delivery: PATIENTS' RIGHTS GROUP of-town. The staff may not realize the effect the more impersonal atmosphere of a large hospital may have on people from small communities. And a woman may feel she has little support if family and friends aren't able to visit. In the booklet we stress the importance of asking for the care you need. However, we see our booklet as a beginning. There's lots more work to do--work that women can do in their own communities. For example, sharing what you know about out-of-town birth with local women, perhaps during prenatal classes, can help women to be better prepared. There is a need for more widely established support services for birthing women such as hostels for family members and coaches for women in labour. Write to your provincial member of parliament and the Minister of Health, stressing the need for these services. Letters, especially lots of letters, can make a difference. Women need to join the current discussion about health care options in Ontario. The Advisory Committee on Reproductive Care recommends examining the role of midwife in providing birthing services in isolated areas. Working with other members of the Midwifery Task Force - Ontario is one way to strengthen the call for more birthing options* Realistically, out-of-town birth is an issue that will stay with us. We know it shapes the birth experiences of many Northern women, indeed, women right across Canada. We are right to question its necessity. But we must also find positive ways to respond to its demands. We have taken as our motto a wise piece of advice from an Ignace woman. "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst." It's something every woman living in a small town might keep in mind as she plans for the birth of her child. The booklet on out-of-town birth will be distributed free of charge during the summer of 1989 to public health units, nursing stations, hospitals and clinics throughout Northwestern Ontario. Individuals may obtain the booklet for the cost of postage. The Midwifery Task Force-Ontario can be contacted at Postal Station 'T', Box 489, Toronto, Ontario M6B 5C2 Hotty Rape/it the Red Lake coo/Ldin- aton o6 the PtOject on Out-4-Town Bath. She hats wotked on the tokoject with the Thunder Bay coo' dinaton Dianne Lai. Both women have experienced out-o4 town bitth. To receive copies - fill out the coupon below and send along with a money order or alumna for $2.00 per booklet (to cover postage) made payable to 1.11.1.11. TO: nall20aiO5121NOLSIES c/o N.W.O. gammas' Health Information Network as B. Cumberland St. 817. Thunder Bay. Ontario or call (807)345-1410 P7A 4L1 4ew (days). The group has received encouragement from the Patients' Rights Association and hopes to become a formal chapter soon. The Association acts as a patient advocate by assisting patients to get their grievance heard; to advocate easier, simpler and more equitable complaint procedures; and to promote among the public an awareness of their health rights and responsibilities. The Thunder Bay Patients' Rights Group hopes to make information on patient rights widely known. Legal health care rights in Ontario include the right to treatment in an emergency, to refuse treatment, to voluntary informed consent, to an adequate standard of care, to choose one's own doctor, to treatment free from discrimination and to confidentiality. In addition, there are moral rights which are recognized by professional codes of ethics but which are not legally enforceable. The Patients' Rights Association publishes a hand book "Patients' Rights in Ontario" and the Thunder Bay Group hopes to assist people to become aware of complaint procedures. Anyone interested should contact the group. \% :;)/1 1. copy(ies) of LaggpiltaamadjayrnyLV-....,--N Pleas, send me A guide to Travelling Awav From Nome to Give Birth to cover postage. I have enclosed S The founding meeting of the Thunder Bay Patients' Rights Group was held March 31, 1989. Anyone interested should contact Prue Morton, 344-2997 (evenings) or 345-4009 G14- Gr4 ./4 GT4 GT4 fh. GI4 G -4Y4 RESOURCES SEXUAL ASSAULT: NEW INFORMATION 4 publications in a new series are now offered by the Victoria Women's Sexual Assault Centre. Titles SERIES. NAME 28.23I3PtESSZ Street Apartment Province Postal Code City Area Code i Phone Number tRA,A9M9PotkPe,AW WEN-DO CHALLENGED Wen-Do Women's Self Defence Corporation is fighting a complaint of sexual discrimination before the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The complaint was brought by a male black belt in judo who is a representative of a men's groups called "In Search of Justice". The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) has agreed to assist Wen-Do in its response to this complaint. LEAF believes that Wen-Do's women-only policies are specifically designed to promote women's equality and therefore do not violate human rights legislation. If Wen-Do wins, they will have successfully protected their right to remain a women-only organization and will have strengthened the interpretation of the Ontario Human Rights Code as a protection of traditionally disadvantaged groups, such as women. If the Human Rights Commission rules against Wen-Do and allows woman-centred education and support groups to be forced to admit men, men may also gain access and rights to run women's shelters and rape crisis centres... where women go when they are most vulnerable and need the support of other women. include: Sexual Assault: Information for Adult Survivors Sexual Assault: Information for Families Sexual Assault: Information for Partners and Friends Child Sexual Assault: Information for Parents These innovative and unique booklets are packed with information specific to each target group. Areas of discussion include: misconceptions about sexual assault and child sexual abuse; common reactions of the survivor and their supporters, and how survivors can get the help they need - including medical, legal, and emotional support concerns. Written in a way that is nonthreatening and easy to understand, each booklet is useful for anyone who has experienced sexual assault or wishes to support someone who has. Professional and non-professional helpers alike will find these booklets a valuable resource to enhance the service they already provide. Individual copies are available at $1.00 each plus postage and handOrder from Victoria Women's ling. Sexual Assault Centre, 1945 Linden Avenue, Victoria, B.C. V8V 4H3 NORTHERN, WOMAN. page 11 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �BOOK REVIEWS Reviewed by ALICE RIIVES-SABOURIN HONOUR THE SUN by Ruby Slipperjack, Pemmican Publications, Winnipeg, 1987 The story begins with innocence, simple living and rich day to day experiences of a young Native girl in 1962. The descriptive and often humourous escapades of snuff chewing, legend telling and ritualistic blueberry picking would ring a warm light of familiarity to anyone from that special time and place of Northern Ontario. As a reader I was touched and impressed with the portrayal of characters special in HONOUR THE SUN, people the author describes are very real and important figures to Native people. The delicate interplay of roles between herself, her sisters, cousins and aunt and especially her mother clearly articulates how and why 'The Owl' has a strong sense of who she is - unafraid, open and very much belonging to the world which she so anMnately enjoys. And then it happens. The confusing disparity between the steadfast relationships between 'The Owl' and her impiediate family and the almost benign hatred she comes to experience towards neighboring men who upon returning from work go on terrorizing night rampages during drunken stupors The killing of 'Rocky' followed by an almost fatal entrapment by a town bully marked the end of innocence for 'The Owl' who now knows the meaning of fear and powerlessness. reviewed by PRUE MORTON CHILDBIRTH: What You Need To Know And Your Doctor Won't Tell You by Rosemarie Tugwood Manitouwadge, Ontario: Great Spirit Writers, 1989 This book begins by telling of the positive birthing experiences Rosemarie Tugwood experienced herself, first in helping her mother to give birth to her fifth child in an air raid shelter in England, then in giving birth to her own first child with the help of a midwife, also in England, and lastly, in giving birth to her other three children with the The summer of '62 continues on despite the harsh exploits of the returned workers. As the chapters progress 'The Owl's' character is revealed as being very much in control over her reactions particularly in painfully antagonizing circumstances where she becomes embarrassed, threatened and challenged. I could feel myself getting angry at the 'jokes' played on her by her brother Wess, In each event 'The Owl's' mother does not attempt to intervene or reprimand her older son for his tricks. Survival and control are taught in ways that perhaps appear to be cruel and harsh. However, to protect and defend 'The Owl' would be unrealistic as in most communities such as this where children are often left to defend themselves, to run behind the skirt of her mother pleading victim would have been viewed as childish and weak. Respect is given to those capable of enduring, a prerequisite for surviving in the North. The silent link between 'The Owl' and her mother is maintained giving the reader a pleasant feeling in realizing the power of ability 'The Owl's' mother had as teacher, leader, provider, particularly as it is done with very little conflict. The children know their place and their responsibilities, they have trust in their mother knowing any task asked of them will be within the bounds of their ability. This confidence and conditioning for control is probably one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted characteristics of Native people. The toughness of 'The Owl' coupled with the respect and kindness shown to her family is what will see her through the diversions in lifestyle in later years come the infilteration of alcohol dependency in her community and within her own family. Ruby Slipperjack continually speaks of the advent of the 'Whiteman' including Christmas trees, skating, and linoleum flooring. Sometimes it hints of excitement and enthusiam of these inventions. What was evident throughout the journal was the economic disparity between the standard of living of that community as compared to modern day consumer oriente society that is very wealthy for som people. In living on a reserve and being familiar with the differences in culture I would venture to state that even with the coming of consumerism in our capitalistic society, Native communities remain separate from that realm of existence. The economic conditions of Native commun ities are not very good and Ruby Sli perjack notes very thoughtfully and without judgement these differences. What is lost in many Native families is the unity and leadership which wa: illustrated in 'The Owl's' life. Time passes with the seasons leaving her separated from her past security onl: to face the undefined future. The quiet deterioration of collectivity is marked by her mother's involvement to excess with alcohol. With silent strength 'The Owl' becom( increasingly detached from her commul ity and the once very loving bond bet ween her and her mother. The determit ation not to follow is not unfamiliar among Native people. The courage tWial continue to move forward is the most powerfully pronounced characteristic in 'The Owl' and perhaps in Ruby Slipperjack herself. Reading this boo reminds me and enlightens me of the strength of individuals who can foresee their vision despite circumstanc( beyond their control. The pain of her alcoholic community is softened by the love she has for her mother and the bitterness is perhaps prevailed by the nature of her surroundings. "Honour the Sun for shining on your face and pray it will acknowledge yoi and bless you each morning." (The Ow: mother to The Owl.) keice RiiveA-Sabou4n -ins a tiraditiona contempoAany Ojibway woman who enjoyz peopte, mcoic and w/uiting. help of a small town doctor who agreed with her determination to have her babies at home. The rest of the book is taken up with descriptions of the many medical practices, often unnecessary and counterproductive, to which doctors subject women and their babies during pregnancy and childbirth. The medical establishment, which isn't even well trained to assist what should be a normal natural process, have managed to transform it into an ordeal where the doctor is the only authority and the women's wishes are often considered unimportant. The book presents very clearly the many faults of the "medical model" but it is outside its scope to document scientific evidence to back PDF compression, OCR, webItoptimization up its arguments. would be well using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor worth reading by any pregnant woman �BOOK REVIEW Reviewed by KIT MINOR Many Tender Ties, Sylvia Van Kirk, Watson and Dwyer Publishing Co., 1986. ' I had very much looked forward to reviewing this book which traces the role of women in the fur trade from 1670 to 1870. While I found the text informative, I was disappointed that the author did not attempt a clear feminist perspective, nor did she include the perspective of Native Van Kirk relies on the journals women. and writings of the men who where involved in the trading. I would suggest that she may have added a great deal to the perspective of women in the book if she had personally interviewed some of the elder Indian, Dene and Metis women residing in the Northern provinces, and the Northwest Territories. My own experience in these areas and personal contacts with elder women, whose grandmothers and great grandmothers had passed on detailed information about their role in the fur trade, leads me to believe that such information would have added a wealth of insight and understanding from the perspective of the women and their involvement in the fur trade. Van Kirk does provide detailed analysis and information as to the activities of the early fur trade, and particularly focuses upon the Indian and Metis woten. She emphasizes their role in aiding in the survival of the traders and trappers. The women possessed a wealth of information in the surviva41 techniques of the land. A relationship .between anindialnikaman_ and a trader brought with it these knowledges and certain securities, for the trader, as it created a social bond between the trader and the kinship network of the Indian woman. This enhanced the traders security in securing furs from the group. Van Kirk states that initially the trader adapted to the customs and practices of the people. However, I don't believe that her analysis really reflects the patriarchal and capitalistic benefits which the trader enjoyed when he assumed these customs and practices and married la facon du pays. ThL role which the Indian women played in the fur trade is really quite incredible, but Van Kirk seems to glide over this. The women were the teachers of the language and customs of the Peoples. They had the skills of tanning, making moccasins, and lacing snowshoes, all arts which were essential to the survival of the trader; but that Van Kirk does not seem to give credit as to how detailed and fine these skills were. The women provided the essentials of nutrition, such as pemmican. And in times of starvation, it was the Indian women whose skills and knowledge of the land secured the food. The Indian women were strong and able to assist the trader during his journey. She was a trapper of small animals, such a as the valuable marmot and thus increased the wealth of the trader. She was also often interpreter and peacemaker. Van Kirk does provide some information about the Chipewyan woman Thanadelthui. This woman became very important as a guide, integrater and peacemaker between the Chipewyan, the Northern Cree and the Nor'Westers. lighter the skin colour, the more EurVan Kirk does emphasize the strength and gives us some clue as to the bri- opean the ways, the more attractive lliance of this woman, but she also the women of the Peoples became to provides an undercurrent that Thandel- these men. Could the Metis women who thur became arrogant and self-serving, grew up within there father's home, which detracts from the wisdom and who were "educated" and "Christianized", skills of Thanadelthur. return to the rich and wise customs of the Indian women who chose to remain Van Kirk states that "There can be no doubt that, on a material within the Indian groups? I guess the questions here are could they return, level, life in a fur-trade post offered an Indian woman an easier would they be wanted, and would they existence" (pg.80). However, this know the ways? Van Kirk cloaks the blatant racism statement is either from her own perand sexism, and seems to say it was spective or that of the traders, okay because they really were nice men whose journals she quotes. Perhaps, it was just different, and perhaps the who really loved their wives, and gained indignities that the Indian women had nothing more from the union than a devIt seems to me that the to suffer, particularly when they were oted family. abandoned for Metis women, who were traders took a wealth of information, later abandoned for the white women, including the customs, and language were far more difficult than tradof the Peoples from these women. In itional Indian life. The Indian short they were educated by these women, women were encouraged to take on a who I have no doubt cared for these Europian life style while at the furmen, for the most part. If the traders felt so devoted to the Metis wives, trade post. They mothered from eight why then, after they had been educated to twelve children, three to four by the women, and with the arrival of times as many as the Indian women white women, did they leave the Metis who remained with their tribes. With women for the European women? Grantthe birth of these children came the ed this was not the case in all the confusion of cultural upbringing, relationships, nor perhaps the majority and often the children, particularly the sons were sent away to be "civbut, it happened significantly; so that many Metis women suffered an inilized" and educated. Now they were The children of the union between credible displacement° neither Indian, nor white, and that Indian women and Euro-men became confusion must have been an incredthe mixed blood, or the Metis. Many ible, lonely burden to bear. Van of these Metis women were educated Kirk again skims over this. Van Kirk in the customs of the mother and the does give evidence of numerous bond"civilized fashion" of their fathers. That is they know the traditional ings which were wholesome and caring, cultural ways of the Peoples, but 4Dut she just doesn't seem to repthey could dress in the fashion resent the other side of the coin. which the traders wanted i.e. European And from my own contacts and experVan Kirk writes "the European dress. fences of living with Native groups, traders sought to outfit their women for most of my adult life, I know in civilized fashion and to inculcate there is another critical part to in them the precepts of Christianity this story, and basically that is and proper womanly behaviour" (p.102). the story of the Indian/Dene and The authors fails to analyze, from Metis women. either a feminist perspective or a In the final two chapters Van Indian/Metis/Dene perspective, the Kirk does begin to attend to the blatant racism and sexism contained racism and sexism put upon the Indian Further she does not analyze, herein. and Metis women. But she also seems the tragic racism when these traders to indicate, particularly in the finabandoned their Indian wives for the al chapter, the benefits to the Metis Metis women. She does however give some of acculturation, that is the benefits clue as to the patriarchal nature of of the Metis taking on all the cultural the relationship between the traders traits of the Europeans, thus losing and the Metis women° And then on the the richness of their Indian heritage. Having read this book, I was exfollowing page (p. 122), she states tremely disappointed in Van Kirk's "with the emergence of the mixed Euro-Canadian attitude towards blood wife, the trend was the formation very the traditional wisdoms, skills and of lasting and devoted marital relatabilities of the women of the Peoples. Again I remind the reader ionships". It just seems that she missed the pothat Van Kirk secured her information int, and the strengths of these women. from the journals and writings of the I would refer the reader to a more men. I really wonder what the women would have said, or the grand-daughters succinct version of some of the traumatic events which took place during the of those women, whom Van Kirk could fur trade. This can be found in Ron I don't mean to have interviewed. The Development_af napBourgeault: imply here that there were not healthy italism and the Subjugation of Native and "devoted marital relationships", amen in Northern Canada in AlterBut I really I am sure some were. Carleton nate Routes Vol. 6: 1983. do wonder what the women of the Peoples Bourgeault, writing from University. Van Kirk seems to have to say here. a pro-feminist perspective, exposes expend a great deal of energy, and the fur traders as capitalistic adpages, extolling the wonderful and He further provides an venturers. caring aspects of these traders towards excellent critique of the struggles She seems the Indian and Metis women. and trauma which confronted the women to forget that the traders trementhe most affected by the fur trade: dously benefitted from these unions, Indian and Metis women. nor does she adequately analyize what these benefits were, nor in what frame of reference these benefits were secKit Mincft o a membet of the The fact seems to be that the ured. NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL catective. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor NORTHERN WOMAN page 15 �Books for Summer Reading by MARGARET PHILLIPS Summer reading tastes frequently turn to fiction and this issue we wish to introduce lesser known Canadian novelists and short story writers whose words deserve to be heard. JANICE KULYK KEEFER is receiving critical acclaim for her first novel, Constellations, which "demonstrates an abundant talent... bold, riveting and beautifully executed". JANET TURNER HOSPITAL's most recent publication, a short story collection, is Dislocations. Winner of the Seal Books First Novel Award (1982) for The Ivory Swing, Hospital is also author of the excellent Tiger in the Tiger Pit, and Borderline, which is one of the most moving and amazing novels I have read. Book titles intrigue me. The Late Great Human Road Show is Paulette Jiles most recent novel. Jiles, who is best known for her poetry, now resides in B.C. but at one time lived in Sioux Lookout. Two novels by Alberta writer SUSAN HALEY have received fine reviews. A Nest of Singing Birds is said to be "a highly polished piece of fiction, the kind of debut that make publishers and critics share a sense of discovery", while in Getting Married in Buffalo Jump "her characters breathe and glow inside their excited talk and eccentricities." DIONNE BRAND has a collection of short stories Sans Souci. Brand, born in the Caribbean and now living in Torconto has published a number of books of poetry and is presently working on an oral history of black working women in Ontario. DONNA E. SMYTH, a Nova Scotia peace and environment activist, has combined her writing talents and activism in the innovative novel Subversive Elements. Smyth has also published Quilt. CYNTHIA FLOOD of Vancouver has been active in the women's movement and left politics since 1970. Her story collection The Animals in Their Elements was published in 1987. Mystery fans will be delighted with the work of EVE ZAREMBA. Her latest book Beyond Hope, follows the highly acclaimed Work for a Million. Manitoba author CAROL SHIELDS (Various Miracles, Happenstance, A Fairly Conventional Woman) has also turned her talents to mystery with the publication of Swann. Winner of the W.H. Smith Books in Canada first novel award is MARION QUEDNAU for The Butterfly Chair... "so imaginative and informed as to be exceedingly rare in a first novel". Interest in women's writing has encouraged the reprinting of earlier works (e.g.) In Due Season by CHRISTINE VAN DER MARK ... "a classic and highly acclaimed 1947 novel about northern Alberta..." with a new intorduction by DOROTHY LIVESAY, while The Stairway by ALICE A. CHOWN, first published in 1921 has been re-issued. There are many exciting Quebec women writers whose work is beginning to be made available in English. JOVETTE MARCHESSAULT's Lesbian Triptych has been translated by YVONNE M. KLEIN. Many Saskatchewan writers are emerging. BONNIE BURNARD's Women of Influence won the Saskatchewan Writers Guild major award for fiction in 1986, and SHARON BUTALA was a 1985 Governor General's Literary Award nominee for Queen of the Headaches. Fantasy devotees will be deligh ed to discover BARBARA SMITH's Renew The Prophecy of Manu and Renewal: Teonis Giveaway Book Two. Another Seal Books First Novel Award winner (1986) is JOANNE WILLIA BENNETT for Downfall People. Other short story collections t look for include: Mohawk Trail by BETH BRANT; If Only We Could Drive Like This Forever, by ELISABETH HARVOR; and Stories by Canadian Women and More Stories by Canadian Women edited by ROSEMARY SULLIVAN. The growth of Canadian women's writing is so wonderful to experience In case you have missed them, we will also mention a few of the works of some of our established writers. JOAN BARFOOT: Abra, Duet for Three. ANNE CAMERON: Daughters of Copper Woman, Dzelarons, Child of Her People, The Journey. MARIAN ENGEL: The Glassy Sea, Bear, The Honeyman Festival. MAVIS GALLANT: (newest work) In Transit. KATHERINE GOVIER: Fables of. Brunswick Avenue, Random Descent. ALICE MUNRO: Progress of Love, Dance of the Happy Shades. JANE RULE: Desert of the Heart, Outlander, Theme for Diverse Instr ments, Memory Board. AUDREY THOMAS: Goodbye Harold, Goodluck, Real Mothers, Intertidal Life. ADELE WISEMAN: Crackpot. MatgaAet Phittio 4.4 a member o4 the NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL cottective and owner o4 the No' thekn Woman'6 Boolvsto,te READERS PLEASE NOTE Rising production costs necessitates a rise in JOURNAL rates. Effective this issue the NORTHERN WOMAN .JOURNAL subscriptions are $6 for 4 issues for individuals, $12 for inThe stitutions, single copy $1.75. JOURNAL survives on subscriptions, please renew yours promptly and encourage others to become a regular reader of the NORTHERN WOMAN. S -M PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Second Class Mail Registration No. 5697 MAIL TO: INSIDE: Don't forget to renew your SUBSCRIPTION p2 EDITORIAL p3 RED FLAG: Bill 124 p4 LONG DISTANCE DELIVERY P5 ONTARIO WOMEN'S DIRECTORATE p6 PAY EQUITY p8 THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT & STRUGGLES IN THE PHILIPPINES pll THE RED MAIDEN'S TALE p14 BOOK REVIEWS p16 BOOKS FOR SUMMER READING NAME ADDRESS POSTAL CODE Coven, De6ign by Peggy Hamet $ 6.00 Institutional $12.00 Individual RETURN TO: NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4V5 THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. BOX 144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 Return Postage Guaranteed Northern Woman Journal FOUR ISSUES $ 6.00 $12.00 Business or Institution' lo PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 12 No 1 Description An account of the resource Vol. 12, No. 1 (July 1989) Title: Northern Woman Journal Topics include: Free trade Children’s Law Act amendment Child custody Natal care access Travelling to give birth Thunder Bay Immigrant Women’s Planning Committee Pay Equity Women’s movement in the Philllipines Transnational solidarity Radical feminism Anti-capitalism Poetry Thunder Bay Patient’s Rights Group Wen-do Feminist book review of Honour the Sun by Ruby Slipperjack Feminist book review of Many Tender Ties by Sylvia Van Kirk Feminist book list Authors/Contributors: Maude Barlow Leni Untinen Holly Rupert Ontario Women’s Directorate Lynn Beak Josie Wallenius Gert Beadle Alice Riives-Sabourin Kit Minor Margaret Phillips Peggy Harper Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2819/1989_Vol_12_No_2.pdf 4b721e40a8a2ca452a3a44a8a717b801 PDF Text Text $1.75 Northern Woman Journal Nover ber 1980 Volume 12 No. Thum'er Bay, Ontario PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �E DITORIAL We must not be deluded for one moment about why abortion legislation 60 Years a Person - a rallying cheer - as Canadian women celebrated the anniversary of the Persons Case-. Yes. it was 60 years ago on October 16, 1929 that Privy Council determined women to be persons. Yet on November 3, 1989 the federal Conservative government introduced legislation that will again deny women our personhood. The Conservatives intend to re-criminalize abortion. If this bill is passed a woman's right to determine her own destiny, to make her own decision will again be denied. -within the Criminal Code 15 deemed necessary It is not about compromise as the Conservatives and some media lead us to believe It is not about fetal rights. It is not about father s rights. It is about CONTROL. The highly publicized court cases this past summer - for example the Daigle-Tremblay case - were stunning illustrations of this matter of control.i The abortion issue is not. as frequently declared, a complex issue. It is really a simple issue. The issue of control - men's control of women. By introducing this abortion bill the Conservative government has demonstrated it s intention to control women. to ensure a subserviant position for women in Canadian society. The abortion iegisiation is merely a first step to reverse the modest gains the feminist movement has won this past decade If the abortion legislation successfully passes, it will provide the impetus for other restrictive policies tc ensure women are controlled. That we live in a misogynist society Is a reality we must never forget. ZIZZZIZZZIZZIZZIZZIIIIZZliiiii CELEBRATING 60 YEARS AS PERSONS Despite the fact that by 1920 most Canadian women had complete suffrage, under British Common Law, they were "not persons in matters of rights and privileges", but were "persons in matters of pains and penalties" only. They were classed along with children, criminals and idiots. The famous Persons Case battle began in Alberta in 1916 when the authority of the first woman police judge, Emily Murphy, was challenged as she heard her second case. The defence lawyer argued that since the judge wasn't ever a person, any decision she might make concerning his client would not be legally binding. Although Judge Murphy's authority was backed up by the provincial government, she decided to test the federal interpre- tation of the law, Her platform was the eligibility of women to sit in the Senate, because only persons could legally be Senators. For 11 years she wrote hundreds of letters, made speeches and circulated petitions to women's institutions. By 1927Judge Murphy realized that a bolder, more direct presentation of the question was needed. Since any five persons could petition Parliament for an interpretation of any part of the British North American Act, Murphy decided to request reassessment of Section 24, which deals with the appointment of Senators. Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir' Edwards and Louise McKinny joined her in the appeal. The Supreme Court of Canada took five weeks to deliberate the question. On April 24, 1928, it was declared that women were not qualified for the Senate and were not, therefore, legally persons, As shocking and disheartening as the decision was, the women pushed their appeal to the Privy Council in England - their last hope. The Privy Council based its decision on the wording of the Act itself: "In some sections the word male persons are expressly used when it is desired to confine that matter an issue to males". In Section 24, however, the Act stated that 'the Governor General shall from time to time summon qualified persons to the Senate" without mention of gender. The Privy Council decision of October 16, 1929 legitimized what women already knew, that women are indeed persons! Feminist Publications of Ottawa - 1979 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 4t 4 A4 ,f 4 Nor fhpr'n tlifilTiriti Pane �ABORTION RE-CRIMINALIZED Once again legislation has been put forward by the federal government to, re-criminalize abortion. The proposed legislation establishes that -Every person who induces an abortion on a female person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years. unless the abortion is induced by or under the direction of a medical practitioner who is of the opinion that, if the abortion were not induced, the health or life of the female person would be likely to he threatened it this legislation passes what will be the outcome? *Women will be denied freedom of choice. Legislators and doctors. not the woman herself, will control a woman's reproductive destiny. *The unequal access to abortion services that now exist in Canada will be exacerbated. i At present, women in P.E.I.. much of Newfoundland, and most of rural and isolated areas across the country do not have access to abortion services.) The federal government is disclaiming responsibility for ensuring equal access for all Canadian women, leaving the access question to provinces. 'omen will have to play the Bailie" required by the doctor(s) of their communiry-. Having to convince a doctor your health is endangered incurs a stress that will certainly be unhealthy. It is preposterous that women be subjected to this abuse. *An increase in litigation. Legal experts believe that litigation could occur on a number of fronts. The constitutionality of the legislation could be challenged. The legislation does not prevent court challenges by third parties (ex-boy friends, evenstrangers). Doctors performing abortions could face court challenges. 'Decreased availability of abortion services. There is the potential that many doctors will choose to not perform abortions if they are concerned that they may face criminal charges. (We may spend the rest of our lives raising money for Henry Morgentaler's defense fund.) *Intensified anti-choice activity, not only through litigation, but also through increased harassment of doctors and abortion patients. 'A significant diversity of practice and policy throughout the country. The bill does nothing to ensure the appropriate provincial funding of abortion services. There is no need to criminalize abortion. Abortion is a health matter not a criminal matter. The government must strengthen the Canada Health Act to ensure that every province provides universal access to this necessary health service. K. a f N# 3 K 4..X 4 f. t till 44 A .4 144411* 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Canadian Abortion Rigid* action Longue Abortion information - Lobbying - Pro-Choice 3.457.0303 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 GOODS AND SERVICES TAX (GST) Niar.-.1--..0 17: I-, ! I ; .ks a bookseller as a member of a periodical publishing collective, but most particuiari as a reader and as a Canadian. I am outraged that the federal Conselyat.rv'e government seems bent on destroying a Canadian cultural industry. For destruction is precisely what will happen to the Canadian book and magazine publishing industry it the 'Tories Goods and services Tax is implemented. disaster :pus in mato, --;,.-aYs. It will impact women most seriThe G. )usly see acimpair,-.ing article). It pro:-_!uce chaos for small business people la concern that has been reabV mainstream onabiy The devastation that the 6ST will coilSv Canadian literature ha not, how e tier. been adequately addressed in media discussion of the tax. Every ..1:ne who loves books should he seriously concerned. the past 111teen years has seen an amazingly rich outpouring of writing by Canadian women. Through creative and theoretical writing. our herstory has been discovered. the feminist movement nourished. and our culture enriched Continually new voices are being heard - voices necessary to our understanding of ourselves - as women as Canadians. The imposition of the GST would silence our voices. At the present time books are not taxed. The GST imposes a 9% tax. If the provinces are coerced into integrating into this scheme we could see a 17% tax. Research demonstrates that an increase of one percent is met with a decrease in demand or selling rate of 1.0 - 2.5 for books (thus a 9% - 23% decrease in demand). This price elasticity, as it is called, is even more dramatic for magazines, The Don t Tax Reading Coalition points out, The proposed Goods and Services Tax but Canadian magamay be only zines cannot just pass this increase along to their readers. Its been estimated that a 9% price increase could cut sales of some magazines by as much as one thirds Nor can Canadian publishers absorb the increased cost themselves: the industrys pretax profits amount to less than 4% - and most publishers have no profits at all.'So some magazines may have to shut down. Those that survive may have to either charge their readers more or reduce costs by cutting pages, publishing less frequently, scrimping on printing or paper quality, or paying their contributors less."Either way, Canada's already fragile magazine industry will be more vulnerable than ever to the foreign publications that already take 60% of the Canadian market, and more than of newstand sales.continued Pg 13 Northern Woman Page 3 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �HERSTORY - CANADA'S FIRST WOMEN'S CALENDAR CELEBRATES 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS The Saskatoon Women's Collective is celebrating the 15th anniversary of HERSTORY with the 1990 edition of their acclaimed appointment calendar. Highlighting Canadian Women, HERSTORY was Canada's first calendar of its type, started in May of 1973 by a group of Saskatoon women who wished to provide a and inspiring outline of the struggles and achievements of Canadian women". HERSTORY has created many friends and established a strong readership and respect for its scholarship. HERSTORY was published contin- uously from 1974 to 1982. Two years of publications were missed in 1983 and 1984. The manuscript was finished and had been with the publisher for some months when he announced that the 1983 edition could not be produced "due to-lack of money". For 18 months the collectie struggled unsuccessfully to find another publisher, Many companies were neither sympathetic to, nor interested in women's publications and especially not interested in working with a collective. Coteau Books (Thunder Creek Publishing Co- operative. Limited) based in Moose law and Regina finally showed interest in time for the 1983 edition. They agreed to work with the group of women and have published five successful calendars with sales growing every year. Naturally, they look forward to another exciting year with the 1990 anniversary edition. The collective members have changed many times from the original five - June Bantjes, Beth Foster, Gwen Gray, Collen Pollreis and Erin Shoemaker to the eight who worked on the 1990 edition (Shirley Martin, Myrna Lamontagne, Gail McConnell, Patty Williams, Nancy Cochrane, Anna Marie Boquist, Mary Gilliland and Dianna Brydon). Work has already begun for the 1991 calendar and although they are saddened to see old friends leave they are pleased to have new members. Over the years, there has been anywhere from 5 to 11 members on the collective, making a 47-kfitoo total of 44 women who have worked on HERSTORY. Even more amazing is the fact that everyone is a volunteer. The circle of people who contribute is, of course, much wider because they are always looking for suggestions from women across Canada. One of the original statements of purpose was to to take "Jay groundwork for others up the challenge of continuing the much needed research on the history who came before. In HERSTORY, we'r, creating our own "story" as we go anc though experiences and strengths are quite different, we discover how muc we share, now and across the generations. And I am delighted and inspire by what I learn about myself and about the women I meet through the pages of HERSTORY." Catiadi'an women': Certainly HERSTORY has been a part of the consciousness and expanding interest in the herstory of Canadian women as well as a beautiful way to record our personal histories. The calendar is moderately priced and available in an increasing number of outlets from Coles and Classics to the Northern Woman Bookstore. I-IEQ6TOQY 1°9°9°0 It is exciting for the women in the collective to receive letters from the subjects explaining how being included in HERSTORY has helped to empower and delight them. In the words of Shirley Turcotte (1990, pg. 92) "Still even as I sit here typing, I can barely see the keys through my tears, when I think what it means to receive probably one of the most significant honours in my lifetime. One that will be felt by many survivours across the nation and even the world." The comments from readers are E CA-N-AD I A454,----7r WOMEN'S CALENDAR 0 >00000000< equally reassuring: "HERSTORY was a great reading experience for one so far from home! (Leslie Daoudi, Annaba, Algeria.) "The women from the past show us how far we have come, but the women of the present give us role models and show us what we can be." (Ellen Pettigrew, Tantalloon, Nova Scotia) HERSTORY creates a special experience for those women who are able to work together to produce the manuscripts. "In the excitement of sharing our pages with one another, we have discovered how powerful it is to remember together the great things women have done. We also feel akin to them through the solidarity we experience in our own collective." It is as much a joy as it is hard work,. best summed up by Marty Gilliland, a member since 1984. "It's exciting to work together on a project like this to gain a sense of community both present and past in learning more about each other and about women T :Tur...Fcript * cheri.; your label :7 .i.1; :;ee cnr-,c'r s 1.5 tssue. tje rI,T.T'VC see a 3 d ue ne vc,:i are are. Itencw-your >< >< PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �The Faye Peterson Transition House in Thunder Bay received $1709.00 for a billboard sign : "Wife Assault is a crime in Thunder Bay" Ontario Women's Directorate The Immigrant Women's Planning Committee in Thunder Bay received their written resources to OWD's Northern Office Resource Centre. Spanish, Vietnamese and Polish to focus on wife assault. With to develop a safety brochure for women and children. New Starts for Women in Red Lake received $1,500.00 to raise community awareness through radio for wife assault. Nipissing Transition House in North Bay received $1,500.00 to design and install a billboard for one month on wife assault being a crime. the help of two summer students, Diana Milton (OWD) and Cathy Pappas (Decade), boxes of publications, reports and conference materials were transported, sorted and catalogued and are now available to the community of women, students and others interested in women's at Ontario Women' s Directorate, 107C Johnson Avenue. issues Please feel free to cone inbrowse, borrow and/or research - at your convenience. Office hours are 9:00 to 5:00. Call to make sure the office is staffed. 345-6084. The C.M.H.A. Family Resource Centre The following organizations in Ontario have received Northern Ontario Women Directorate funding for Wife Assault in November. in Matheson received $1,500.00 to hold a film presentation and discussion to raise public 000000000000000000 awareness. Thanks for your participation. 00000000000000 Manitoulin Haven House in Mindemoya received $1,000.00 for a display unit for public education. Chadwick Home of Wawa received to purchase resource $3,500.00 material to make joint presentations with other agencies on the Manitoulin Interagency Committee Against Family Violence in Mindemoya received $1,700.00 for a one-day workshop on wife assault. issue of wife assault. The Rainy River District on Family Violence in Rainy River received to produce $1,455.00 slides, and photo albums for pmrValets Omushkegiskew House in Moosonee received $1,500.00 to produce and distribute wallet-size "action cards" in Cree and English. RESOURCE CENTRE public speaking. 1 Because of cuts in Secretary of State funding in administration, Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council has graciously given much of $1,500.00 to hold three workshops in The Atikokan Crisis Centre in Fort Frances received $1,450.00 WIFE ASSAULT PREVENTION MONTH NOVEMBER 1 9 8 9 RESOURCES COORDINATION 4 0 O O 0 O O The 1989 updated version of "The Northern Ontario Women's Organizations" directory is now available free of charge. Phone (collect) or write, if you would like a copy. 000000 000 00 0 0 O O O O O 00 .04444440400 44440.4004.444.4.4440/444+ Ojibway Family Resource Centre in The NWO Women's Decade Council of Thunder Bay received $3,000.00 SOME NEW BOOKSto North Bay received $5,000.00 to produce a 30-second TV ad conveying produce and distribute brochures wife assault as a crime for the in Social and pamphlets Oji-Cree Policy:andA feminist North analysis. Bay, Mattawa and Sturgeon Frendh. Falls communities. Blood at the Root: Motherhood, The Thunder Baysexuality Coordinating and male dominance. Pavilion Family Resource Centre on Committee Family Violence received $1,599.00 The to Birth run ads and Partner: in Haileybury received $1,500.00 Everything to print andyou distribute a newshold a public education television need to know to help aletter woman to through make school presentations series on Thunderchildbirth. Bay agencies and to advertise local services. serving assaulted women. Equal or Different Women's politics The Esprit Place Resource Centre 'Beendigen of Thunder Bay received in 1800 - 1914 in Parry Sound received $1,500.00 to a $1,380.00 have one-day to print and distribute pamphlets. conference to educate thethings nativeDone Women's views Getting on family community members of their involvement in political violence. The ACFO Regionale de Timmins in Timmins received $5,000.00 for two life. theatre performances and community Women in Crisis inSharing Sioux Power Lookout Women in Politics. A advertising. received (Oji-cree) ads. to run skills radio handbook. $1,500.00 political and newspaper (English) Northshore Family Resource Centre in Marathon received $1,500.00 to hold a one-day workshop in Marathon. Hoshizaki House in Dryden received $1,503.51 to purchase videos, tapes, booklets for wife assault month. 9 9 9 9 9 9 The Kenora Family Resource Centre received $1,500.00 to have a oneday symposium on wife assault. The Kenora Family Violence received $1500.00 to hold a conference in Dryden for police, Crown Attorneys, shelter workers to raise and awareness on Wife Assault. is This page sponsored by the The Ontario Women's Directorate. material contained on it may be photocopied and distributed without permission, but with credit to the source original or the Ontario Women's Directorate. Northern Woman Page 5 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Because this is an important story, it has three titles, even four, but if that worries you, I can make it one. In fact I will make it one. ENEMIES ARE A LUXURY WE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD, SO WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES AND DON'T LET THE FEARSOME HAVE YOU FEARED ABOUT OTHERS BECAUSE WE ARE NOT THE WHITE, WHITE OCCIDENT AND THEY ARE NOT THE DARE, DARK ORIENT For the life of me I can't figure out why people get all feared up when you go to places in far off lands where the real fear- some fear you going, because really, the only way to fear the fearsome back is to go where they don't want you to go. Take the Soviet Union. Up to a few years ago, if you even so much as went for a pleasant cruise on the Volga, people acted as though you were a spy when you came back, when of course the fearsome just didn't want you to know that the sun shined there. When I showed children in the school down the road my pictures, they were very surprised at seeing the sun. Two years ago, 'when,I came back from Libya, which was four years after the fearsome started making that place fearful, anybody would think I had bombs in my pocket when I walked down the high street.It was very strange, I can tell you, Well, this month, January 1989, I heard from a friend on the Prairies, who tunes in to Radio Havana of an evening to while away some dullness, that the U.S. fleet was on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, which of course is a long way from the Atlantic where it is supposed to stay. When I heard that I felt quite feared myself, even cowed, like a battered woman, so when I got a phone call from my friends in the U.S. to go again to Libya, of course I said yes. Hands up who likes to be cowed anyhow and one finger up to the Pentagon, or is it two fingers, and maybe, just maybe, no strike on the infamous chemical pharmaceutical plant if we went. You all know, don't you, how the Pentagon mourns pure North American white blood when shed, though admittedly, ratio to population, it seemed more black and native brown Americans had wanted to go: They seemed to have more of a problem with the North American Indian experiment in Africa than the white people, which is a shame, isn't it? But this story is not about that, we all really know about that, it's about this strange thing of people being afraid of other people going to the feared places, Well, as soon as I got the invitation, I nipped into town to get some film and a smart dress, just in case we were introduced to you know who, and I bumped into a woman I know and told her where I was going. I also told her I was very worried about this habit of bombing dastardly chemical places, because we have one in Suffield, Medicine Hat, which of course would have been bombed if we'd all said "No" to the Trade Deal. I had to tell her that because that is what my friend on the Prairies is doing, nagging Jo Cluck about Suffield and he just does not seem to care at all. So as I said, I told this woman, and I swear she aged in front of my eyes. This depressed me, that this woman was so feared she aged, and I had to go home and have a hard think about it. The U.S. fleet was fearing me, why should she fear me? So then I remembered something that had happened to me a long time ago in England. I was working in a canteen. It was a great big canteen, with a lot of leftovers. So I took home the leftovers to feed the children and that left wages for rent. Then something happened that feared me more than the fleets, I wasn't going to need any rent because I warn t going to have a home. I went to the doctor and he saw how feared I was about not having to pay rent, so he sent a letter to the "Housing" and it must have been a wonderful letter because they put me at the top of the list. Well, I waited day after day with clutched breath for a place to pay rent for, and then one day at work I got a phone call from the "housing". A man said to go that day and get some keys. I got on my bike in my half hour lunch break and went over. I walked in the room and he put some keys on the desk and said, "Here are the keys of 32 Waddon New Road. Goodbye." Very happy, I took the keys and went back to finish my work as now everything was alright, the streets were receeding, though I had thought of a tent on the common. As I walked into the canteen, two of my friends came up and asked me where the house was. "Waddon New Rd." "What number?" "32." "You can't live there." "Why not?" "Because it's next door to the Grice Family." "Who the heck is the Grice family." My women friends, who had lived in Croydon much much much longer than I then told me about this Grice family. They were terrible. The father wa; in and out of prison, so were some of the sons. The mother took in men. There were always fights, the street was always getting petitions up to get them out, and I COULD NOT LIVE THERE, I COULD NOT, IT WASN'T FAIR TO MY CHILDREN. Of course, feared I was, maybe the streets or a tent was better, so I went back to the housing after work because sometimes the housing gave you choices. Well I walked into the same room with the same man and put the keys back on the desk. I think this man was used to a lot of things. I could not I told him I could live in this place and he looked at me straight and asked me if I wanted a home or not. I picked up the keys again and went to pick up the childre from school and we went to see the house together. It was a little house i] a road of big and middling and little houses, and on one side was another little house with an elderly couple and on the other side was a rambling great brick house with a broken front door and a front yard overgrown wit] dandelions. The sun shone on these dandelions something fierce. It was the Grice House. The next day, after work, a friend moved us and our chip pan and so on in his van to our house. I made some tea, then I put the children to bed on their matresses and then I went out I the back garden. There were a lot of fierce dandelions in my garden too. 0 one side there was a posh fence between my dandelions and the elderly couple and on the other no fence and more dandelions. I sat on the step. I didn't think. I walked through the dandelions to the back door of the Grice house and knocked on it. What do you want?" "I'm your new neighbour and I thought I would come and have a chat." centtnued pg PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page �WHAT IS PAY EQUITY "inancialhayst Soctai,Worker Skill 68 Effort Pay equity is the new term for equal pay for work of equal value It involves comparing jobs done by men to jobs done by women. when the jobs !ere om one another An anaiogy is comparing apples and oranges. Skill 68 Effort 20 70 ResponsinIMY 76 Responsibility Working Conditions 10 Wortting Conditions 5 175 163 Pt'Cii LI:4e ir e I(t)5 are dissimilar. Uctoeii;:-ay eqUalv. edtoa Skill 18 25 Effort 15. Effort 13 Responsibility 28 Responsibility 32 Working Conditions 15 -zeeretar, Lan be compar- Skill 01- an x-ra-v techril- ,:i'an, and i painter or an accountant. Pay Equity dif',tinguished from our normal ideas of c=:nparing y.)bs because the as Working Conditions ,ioeF not ,70mpare jobs on 01 how much one is paid to do tIle tri but aCC0101i1 73 i_<) all assessment of the skill, effort, responsibility and not be any positions to compare lie, a working conditions under which the child care centre). job is performed. SKILL includes education, f'7!7 per tence or special abilities to perform a job. EFFORT includes physical or mental RESPONSIBILITY includes decisional:41in*, i-esponsibility for people. inachinery budgets, WORKING CONDJTIONS includes physical aspects of a job !dirt, noise. rlsk and iTliatal stress., 3s ?fail t to 111 awe Most workplaces, however, have male and female dominated jobs. The Act defines male jobs as a job category in whictl Th. 01 the workers are male' and a female iob categor' in which 60% of the workers are female. All uh lesser percentages of men and -1/4/oinen emplo.,--ees form sex neutral categories. If you are working in a company and want to know when the pay equity process will be unoertaken: the schedule is as follows- -.,ur Lc:J.L is alue ,f our I 4.4 1./ 1,2... L idea behind pav if: to r:.zs ib av 7. S .eork has bezel -alued. criteria other th.,n the r te IF ne:,---feri \, I ;_na.t larger employers, who must com- '-,41,,r !an i:100 an 1 1900 Em Fliox-erc mete their evaluation first. would he 'ai.de to pro,..ide advice and assistance to the smaller ones, AN EXERCISE IN VALUING WORK 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) welder sales clerk accountant public school teacher child care worker skidder operator List from the the above 6 jobs in order highest paid to the Lowest- ,pai,.11s_.----e./w4gWlgrzet, personal experience and knowledge to determine what each job is paid. *** The answer is not simple, but according to Employment Canada and StatsCan, the rank from highest to lowest is probably 6,4,1,3,2,5. list the 6 jobs again, this time on the basis of what you think they are worth to our Now, I thai ;resent system has historically undervaiued tnose !ohs 1.1.111v) are recioininath, done bv women. then the society in general. 1990. Jan 1. 199 Ian *** You have just completed a simple analysis of jobs based on criteria other than what our society presently pays for the work. If your ranking differed nut not be the tool by which we rank ;ohs. Going back to the apple/orange analogy will help to make this clearer. Private ,ector How would one compare apples and oranges - by vitamin content, price, ;--Trriniover i fibre content. availability: etcetera and iohs are compared too; we know they from the one based on wages, you lan I 1 jan I, 1992 understand equity. will why we need pay PAY EQUITY AND UNIONS The Pa..\-VitV Act has different rules for unionized and non-unionized workplaces. If you are a member of a union, then the union must be actively involved in the pay equity evaluation it will be negotiated between the employer and the union. Specifically. fk 1 (I RAti- i z /1 the method used ti) compare job classes, the definition of male and female job in classes: and the rate and time frame for bro. pioYt.,es wage adjustments are issues that are negotiable. The Pay Equity Commission, disappointing for many which was established to oversee this A omen when They realit.e how long it process: has recommended that will take for 1-,,aY equity payment: to be employees and unions should set up maJc in their vorkptace. The reason for joint union-management committees to the delay is to allow smaller employers undertake the pay equity process and time to learn how to conduct a pay continued pg 15 41quitv evlitiallnil It was anticipated Pr iv a must.be - because they are paid diflerent amounts What pay equity is trying Sector l-mploYe; to do is provide a w av of comparing jobs when they are done d4ferent Fexes, to see if they have been paid on that basis. THE ONTARIO SCHEME The Pay Equity Act which iv as passed 11) Ontario in J7 is based on the Stem aIreau llnpiemented '.',Iinnesota and Manitoba. It 1-t_lt.lifels employers over a period of year:- to corn - pare jobs done inside their establishment. and to determine if jobs done predominately by women are paid less than men s jobs Each emplOyer need only compare internally and U the company or community group has only jobs dominated b; one se N then there will an ; Ian 1. 1993 rf L f.) - Northern Woman Page 7, PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �SEXUAL TERRORISM MALE TERRORISTS By Melanie Randall Reprinted from Broadside August/September 1989 As activists in the women's movement have long pointed out, we live in a world where men's acts of violence against women and children, both real and symbolicare epidemic. In fact, the very scale of the problem contirr ties to stagger the imaginatioh,. Even though most feminists acknowledge violence against women to be a problem of sexual oppression, and in spite of what appears to be increasing public awareness, most of us cannot adequately grasp the extent, nature and impact of the fact that virtually every woman in our society has confronted some experience of sexual coercion, harassment, abuse, assault or violence in her lifetime. Moreover, almost all women are aware of living with some kind of Tear and caution about this violence. What does it really mean, for example, to point out that roughly one out of every two women (44 per cent) has been the victim of rape or attempted rape? Or to point out that 54 per cent of all adult women have had some experience of sexual abuse in childhood'? Or to suggest that as many expressions of sexual coercion, dom- ness, or to experience the elaborate forms of accomodation, as well as resistance, which women employ to curie with and negotiate the many forms of men's sexual intrusion. ination and intimidation, and is jarring in its forceful exposure of the sexual abuses and violations of worn en which remain largely unseen even though they surround all of us. It is precisely because the proble is one of /7761).5 sexual violence against women that the -issues have been so difficult for' feminists to address, both theoretically and strategically. We are, for example, u against what is a concerted effort Of the part of main -stream social institutions, and particularily the state, to reframe and obscure the issues in gender-neutral and ideological terns like "family" or "domestic" violence, "Spousal assaul and "victims of violence": Feminists, of course, use terms like "violence against women" in order to name bot the crime and the gender of those wr are routinely victimized. But even- feminists are sometimes reluctant t identify and draw attention to the agents of the violence, that is, to make quite explicit that what we ar really talking about is /7767.5 violenc against women and children. This reluctance arises becauSe a radically feminist critcqUe eqendt--"' into the core of gender relations, as one in four won -en has been physi: cally context of a hetereosexual marital relationship? Or to reveal that in Diana Russell's large-scale random.survey research only 7 per cent of. women did not disclose any experience of sexual aggression against them - the other 93 per cent of women respondents in the study all reported some kind of sexual abuse or violence. These statistics give us an-important indication of the dimensions and prevalence of rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, wife assault in our society and give us a picture of the total scale of men's sexual abuse of women. But they do not give us the images of what the abuse really looks - like, what it really feels like, what it really does to a woman's sense of herself and the world around her. They cannot reveal or convey the impact and trauma of the brutalization sexual, physical and emotional which so many women endure at the - hands of men. Statistics do not bring home the immediacy and presence (however invisible it is deliberately kept) of this violence and its impact in all of The figures cannot graphically remind us that whenever we are with other women - at work, in our families, walking on the street, or riding a bus - we should think about the fact that nearly all of us are survivors of some kind of sexual abuse. Or that in our daily lives we are often brought into contact with and. must relate to men, many of whom are perpetrators of some form of violence against women or children what would it really mean for us if we had to know about and confront all those-men with whom we are acouaiiited who are sexual. abusers, rapists, wife beaters or sexual opens for scrutiny our daily interactions and touches nerves for a grey many people. The consciousness raising process, which remains the vital core of feminism, always demands that we make difficult and significant personal change in both our thinking and practices. The resis. tance so many people have to radical feminism is in large.part because it problematizes the most sacred and secret sphere of our 'private' worlds including the family, the nature of love, the nature of sexual relations, the nature (*gender, and sexuality itself We need to know much more aboui the construction, experience and con . harassers. Some feminists speak of women tent of sexuality as it is lived and bcaticed in our society, it used to be common for feminists to argue that under conditions of sexual 7erroic_n in our society. Zfils way of eyr)ressino 1t perhaps comes ClOSeSt . tt captutino women s social situation, tt. the Pluntness of these. 0,fords. teiyor7sin - aft rents the many levels of denial and distancing which most of us use as a coping strategy in our everyday lives, The expression can appear to he too strong, too strident, too exaggerated to those who work to our lives. They cannot provide us with the images of sexual brutalization, of men's terrifying and utter disregard for the 'other'. Nor can they force us keep their denial intact. It is a term to feel the often acute intimidation, the fear, the humiliation, the numb- which blasts.--; through the taken-forgranted and unseen nature of most - rape was not about sex, it was about violence, domination and control. But this analysis attempts to salvage a notion of "healthy" sexuality decontexuatized from gender relations as they .are constructed and lived by us. And ever iris "the sex" from "the violertoe" in r:1-ibe or child sexual abuse. for eXample, miss under5.--.tandlnd what it is about the practic iln-hratic?n, Intrusion ?rig control 11-r:_fr cl spyLi:j! 4.r:if:II-inc.! tar cs,n min;, Northern Woman Page B optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor PDF compression, OCR, web �men what passes as 'normal" and "good" heterosexual sex itself needs to be scrutinized, as do the myriad other physical and emotional practices which make up heterosexual girl? How do ore account for a man's ability even to get an erection in the relations A very great deal of what feminists identify as sexual violence, intrusion or coercion is, in fact, the stuff of "everyday" and "normal" images of women hound, gagged, hung from trees, or raped, as these are presented in pornography and popular culture? Why do men feel so entitled to access to women's bodies? Why do heterosexual relations, This means that we cannot possibly hope to challenge and eradicate the massive problem of sexual and physical violence against women without also men assume that they are free to press comment on women's "attraciveness" or sexual desirability to them? What is it about masculine sexuality in our society which so -often inextricably fuses men's sexual desire with conquering, aggression, domination, control and violence. These are not popular questions. In confronting sexuality, and particularly heterosexuality - both its ideology and its practice. Furtherniore, the sense of male entitlerne.nt and power expressed in the various forms of men's sexual aggression against women is also expressed in a great many typical interactions between men and women as these take place iri tree context of family, iri other relationships, in the workplace, on the streets and everywhere else. And so addressing the problem and causes of men's violence against women always involves intruding into what is typically viewed as the intensely "personal" stuff or "private" life, In analyzing an exposing the problem, feminists over the years have done an exceptional- job of documenting worries experiences = both, of men's violence, control and intrusion in our lives, sexual and otherwise. While this work is far from complete, it is also now imperative that we begin more systematically to examine the other side of the picture, that we move from examining effect to examining cause. That is, we need to shift some of our focus away from simply documenting and emphasizing the damaging and traumatizing effect of violence on women's lives as our primary strategy of raising awareness about the issue, towards insistently raising fundamental and farreaching questions about what it is about men, masculinity, and the social, economic and political conditions in which we live which creates and allows for the massive scale of men's many forms of sexual abuse of women and children. We need persistency to pose. and begin answering, these questions in our own lives, in our writing, in our activism and in our community education efforts. Why, in fact, u men rape? Why do men physically and sexually assault their wives and girlfriends? What is going on when a man is sexually in site of ) a wornan.s aroused by resistance, fear or ambivalence? How, to take a graphic ex.ample can a two hundred pound, six foot tall adult Mari 1 ()tie erect Denis into the small noutn of a terrif led four year old face of a little girl's terror and vulnerability? How can we explain men's employment and sexual titilation at fact, in our radically liberal social c!imate. it has become entirely taboo to De critical of men at all. It is much easier to address abstractions like society", "the system", "alienation", C.r "capitalist /'patriarchy" than it is to raise questions about what men - as individuals, as well as men as a group - actually in everyday life, about rvenAi they behaVe, what they think, how they express male entitlement, take up space, are overbearing in conversations, arid generally wield power, dominate and assert their presence in and control over women in their immediate and everyday worlds. It is vitally important that we reradicalize feminism, especially heCauSeW6-are Struggling in the con- text of a right wing ideological, political and economic backlash. We cannot allow this new conservatism to modify our agenda, limit our demands or confine the scope of our analysis and critique. Feminists have long recognized the male dominate nature of the institution of marriage, for example, as well as its role in institutionalizing heterosexual relations In envisioning and politically organizing for feminist goals, we are looking for something more than "equality" between men and women, although this in itself appears to be an overwhelming goal in terms of the scope of change it would require, We are also demanding a-radical dismantling and reconstructuring of what we currently recognize as "masculinity", "femininity", the "family " (le, the heterosexual nuclear family), sexuality and heterosexuality, as well as of all the other structures which construct and maintain the social relations of, gender. Feminists are also learning that in neither our analysis nor our politics can we abstract the social and sexual relations of gender from other relations of domination and oppression in our society, namely, those of class and race. While it is imperative that we keep the struggle to end women's oppression central in all progressive social movements, we cannot assume homogeneity in women's experience of sexual inequality, for our location in class or race structures of inequality in our society also profoundly determines our experience of ourselves and the world around us. This means that in our struggle to achieve women's- liberation we must be vigilant in paying attention to cultural and class issues, as well as work to eliminate racism and class divisions. The implication of this kind of analysis for feminist organizing ciarticularly but not only around the issue of sexual violence - are always significant but are not always immediately clear. How do we organize effectively, for example, for an end to compulsory heterosexuality? How do we attack. the ideology and practices of gender and sexuality when our lives, our consciousness and our while subordinating or denying all others, mainly lesbian and gay Yet in the 1980s there appears to be no serious feminist organizing around the issue of heterosexual marriage. And women who identify themselves unconsciousness, are profoundly shaped by these? How do we act to encl men's violence against women and as feminists are still getting married (even if they do not always capitulate to practices like taking the last name short-term reforms? While efforts like the "Safe City" of the man as their own), and thereby continue - personally, politically and socially to support, legitimize and perpetuate one of the most powerful institutions of a male dominated, heterosexist and homophobic society. the state's complicity in it without being consumed entirely by the struggle for moderate and limited campaign in Toronto, to take a current and local example, are extremely important, we must recognize that they hardly begin to address the core issues of men s violence against women. This campaign is the work of a committee made up of various local government departments and community groups and is intended to make the city "safe" for women through such measures as improved - public transit, better lighting, increased "community participation" in "crime prevention", urban design and planning which addresses women's safety needs, and greater access to parking for women, among other things. Northern Woman Page 9 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �It is not a coincidence that it has been possible to mobilize some state support (at the municipal level, in this case) or this kind of work because as long as we are concerted only with making women safe from attack from "strangers" - through more lighting and more adequate public transportation systems - we are not addressing the vastly higher prevalence of attacks perpetrated by men on women with whom they are in some Kind of relationship. Moreover, strategies such as these cannot only unwittingly serve to reinforce many of the most popular misconceptions about the threat of sexual assault from "strange" men, they also provide the state with the opportunity to put resources into the safest and most limited approach to the problem of men's violence against women, ignoring the more fundamental and complex issues, and consuming the time and energy of community groups which makes up much of what we recognize as "normal" relations between men and women. This is also where the greatest complexities and difficulties lie for feminist strategies I.0 eng sexual violence and; uitimately, :sexual oppression. Violence awinst woffleh has peen the focus of much feminist organizind and analysis over the past ten or to learn from both our successes a failures over the past two decades feminist thinking and practice and deprive ourselves of the opportunil of engaging critically with each ot on quesions that are urgent for the goals of feminist politics and soci networkof support and advocacy services for women who've. suffered men's abuse and sexual violence, have organized and lobbied for legislative change. have attacked the criminal its complete inability to respond to crimes of change. violence against women and to hold Melanie Randall is currently conducting Cane research based on Diana Russell's major find ings. She is also a co-editor of Resources for Feminist Research lustice system for for them, have exposed the socio-economic condimen accountable tions and ideology Which allow for it, nave undertaken community educat ion. and have worked to develop our understanding and analysis of government inaction. women's experiences of men's violence. In spite of these concerted And this really is the heart of the reappraisal we run the riskof fail fifteen year,,, we nave developed a while deflecting criticism about problem. The fact that women are subjected to random sexual and physical attacks perpetrated by men who are unknown to them pales in comparison sto the sexual aggression, corriolex: it is importarit, then; told we take the time to Pool our col tive energy and experience to reevaluate both our strategies of political organizing to end violenc against women, as well as to deve our theoretical understanding of tt issues and the interconnections between them Without such a c.rit coercion, intrusion, intimidation efforts, the problems to confront 1.15 which continue in working to eradicate _men's sexual violence and abuse of women and children remain nude and women in the work force continue: grow. By 199$. almost 50 percent WOMEN AND THE SKILLED TRADES the u vrk force ri:711 Pe women. So government is saving why not encc age women into the skilled trades.1 way government is supporting woo tv Marian Mac pay well and Ever thought of a skilled trade as a viable career option for yourself, your sister, your daughter/ There are many myths which discourage women from entering the trades but let me give you a few good reasons why you ought to consider the trades 'Money: 'Job Satisfaction: If you like what you do. you'll be satisfied with the western Thejustjobto trades) and chefsOntario. and cooks, product ot your ettorts In trades and technologies vou can tind work with a challenge: creative These 'iohs to enter the trades is by tunding your reflects projects year usually advancement ca. demonstration experienceWomen's Access to Apprenti In Northwestern ship Training. Ontario we have a iconora wein call mining our pro shortage of Intradespeople WomenS machining Apprenticeship hard rock and soft rock [VAR!. automotive (general ( maintenance. There aretalltwomechanical projects in Not welding. mechanics of th projects to helpare women get into name-a few. Theseiscareers apprenskilled andyourself to increase feu ticable trades. Youtrades commit to a%k aretle-_;S ;Lit women. on-the-job and schoolaretraining forwork a and is ..ides. number of years depending on the each t tell specific trade.Lana As an ',Sleven:.; apprentice isyou the get Pro Thunder Bay 14 in the paid a percentage Coordinator of what qualified 4 1would 9 and tradesperson earn.Marion MacA dam kenora/Drvden In the Coordinator province of for Ontario today. not can apprena coordinator Why female 69s i 000 there are only aboutinyouNorthwestern and a trades car tices, nottalkmany *On the Job Training: In many today% ontarto and lever still as non-traditional skilled tradespeople The pro-- 'Work Variety: When your skills are developed, you can journey to any place. situation, environment or setting. There are many choices within trades there is the opportunity to train and work at the same time. Earn while you learnt *Careers with a Future: The future ot many other traditional jobs for women are at risk. Trades and technoiogies are working for tomorrow and are eApandink; vincial government wants to increase the number of female apprentices in Ontario by 5,000 by 1992. The cooperative effort is being made because of the skills shortage and the changing demographics of the workplace The number of young people coming into the work force is shrinking of and the percentage 10PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �"What the Eff for?" "Well, I just thought I would," The door opened, a child opened it and I went in, into the kitchen. A woman sat there in front of a fire. She was nursing a child and another child sat at the table with a colouring book and crayons. We began to talk and I'm telling you I have never heard a story like it. I've never heard of anybody surviving what she had to survive. We had about a packet of smokes and ten cups of tea and I just listened. When it was dark I went back through the dandelions and went right off to sleep on my mattress happy. The next day I went to work still all happy. I was excited about telling my friends I was happy, and why. I walked up to them at the counter where they were cutting onions for the salads and began to talk. They began to move away from me, not with their bodies. but something else. They sort of looked feared. When it was dinner time I sat down and they went and sat at another table. It was very strange, as I thought I was going to make them happy too. RAGING GRANNIES SNUBBED BY LOCAL TV STATION Our local Raging Grannies have been described as --funny. clever and best of all (they) tell it like it is by the Duluth Peace and justice corn- munity. Last week (October 23-.29) was United Nations Disarmament Week. The Raging Grannies were scheduled to sing on CLPR as part of the introduction to guest speaker Dr. Michael Parenti. who spoke at the Waverly Resource Library on October 28th. About four days before the scheduled taping.. the Grannies were called off. According to the program host and program chair, the subject cat United Nations Week for Disarmament was too controversial- . There had been an error in communications on the part of the station ' ....dreadfully sorry but we) have already scheduled someone in your place on that Wednes day, and unfortunately there is no room betore Disarmament. Week We don t like to see communication problems in our station, but the reason you were cancelled was that there were too many people and our policy of numbers couldn't permit all of you. Sorry: The Grannies have taped at Maclean Hunter Community Television - watch for airing on Cable 7, The Grannies performed at the Peace Walk and Rally on October 28th. Let us continue to support our RAGING GRANNIES OF THUNDER BAY as they work for PEACE josie Wallenius + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + ++ + + + + + ++ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + ++ Our Wombs Are Not For Sale For those of us who thought we had it made in this debate We were shocked to learn that our wombs are now the vehicle of the state Public opinion has swung to the right in an issue that should never have been a fight our wombs are not our own they belong to Jealous boyfriends who take private issues to public courts who are great for recriminations but not for support Our wombs are not for sale for barter or for trade this decision is ours alone based on our judgement at the time not on the whim of a Jilted male. Rosalyn Taylor PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 11 �Behind Clinic Harassment: Fly-In Pickets of the Christian Right Reprinted from Pro-Choice Nerv, Summer 1989 The last year has seen the spread of the tactics of "Operation Rescue" (as anti-choice activists call it), across the border into Canada. In cities in Canada and the United States, those opposed to women's right to choose have conducted a concerted and organized campaign to obstruct access to abortion services by physically barricading clinics and harassing and intimidating patients and staff. Court injunctions have been obtained in B.C. and in Ontario against the trespass of anti-choice campaigners on the premises of clinics in both cities. The slow action of police in clearing anti-choicers who were blocking access to the Everywoman's Health Centre in Vancouver in January forced the centre into court twice, to be in a position to be able to keep the clinic open and functioning. In May, the Toronto Morgantaler Clinic won an injunction banning pickets within five hundred feet of the clinic. Dr. Morgantaler stated he was "happy that his patients will not be suffering from harassment and putinsults". But Reverend Ken Campbell, who has been operating The Way Inn, an anti-choice hang-out which had rented premises next door n order to maintain constant pickets, said "Well go where we have to go-. The group moved its premises to a Baptist church, right across the street from the Scott Clinic in Toronto. Undeterred and seemingly unmindful of injunctions against their actions, anti-choicers return time and again to harass and block access at clinics all over the continent. They claim they are following in the progressive traditions of civil disobedience. whose tactics they have shaped to their own means. Through their constancy they have raised the mirage of a large constituency opposed to choice. Yet Canadian polls show consistently that over seventy per cent of Canadians support choice. What. then, is really going on An American journal quoted reports from The Wanderer, a right-wing Catholic newspaper, of a "rapid deployment force" developed by a Father Norm Weslin in conjunction with Joan Andrews and Randall Terry, organizers of "Operation Rescue" in the U.S. This is a special group of anti-choice activists that will fly to any part of the United States on short notice to participate in an "Operation Rescue". According to the journal, Father Weslin has said he will call this "force" the Victim Souls for the Unborn Christchild, and the "force will include people from all faiths. Similar tactics have been used in Ontario. Once the injunction was granted against picketing the Morgentaler Clinic in Toronto, members of the Toronto based group temporarily moved their activities to Montreal. Police arrested sixty-two protesters outside the Morgentaler Clinic in Montreal. Forty of them were from Toronto. A spokeswoman for the Toronto "Operation Rescue group said they had rented a bus and driven overnight to Montreal. The antichoicers managed to block access to the clinic for five hours. The financing of the group's actions has recently been under scrutiny. The group has been denied status in the U.; as a charitable organization. because of its political stance. Organizer Barbara Magera has no complaints. "We are what is considered a business,- she saic Founder Randall Terry, who has not filed an income tax return for 1987 or 1988, is paid $600 a week. The organization raised over $300,000 U.S. in 1988, with donations from such places as fundamentalist churches, $20,000 coming from the Moral Majority's Jerry Falwell and another $50,000 from the owner of Domino's Pizzeria franchise. "Operation Rescue" has tried time an again to claim that its actions are in the tradition of civil disobedience to unconscionable laws. Members frequently compare themselves to such honorable figures as Dr. Martin Luther King. But American civil rights leaders see no such connection. Keep YOUR beliefs out of MY body Speaking in Edmonton in May, antichoice doctor Bernard Nathanson advised Canadians to go beyond political and court action. even if' that means breaking the law. Americans have been arrested in 'operations' at Canadian clinics. Ann Baker of the pro-choice U.S. 80% Majority Campaign has studied the activities of what she calls Operation Bully, and she talked about her research at the May CARAL Annual General Meeting, By keeping a computer list of all the people who have been arrested in various 'actions . around the U.S. she has discerned that there are a number of peope who have been arrested two, three; or more times in different U.S. cities. In 3,782 arrests she turned up. only 885 were one-time arrests of individual people. Six hundred and fifteen people accounted for 2,897 arrests, or seventy-seven percent of the arrests in -Operation Rescue efforts. This is the effect of the so called rapid deployment force tactic. A statement issued in January 1989, signed by such long time civil rights activists as Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond, Andrew Young and Dorothy Haight of the National Council of Negro Women, attacked "Operation Resuce's" claims to the moral imperative of the civil rights movement. The statement points out that the civil rights movement "sought to extend constitutional rights to all Americans, while Operation Rescue protests (are attempting) to deny American women their constitutional right to reproductive freedom". The statement also takes note of the fact that the harassing and obstructionist actions of Operation Bully bear more resemblance to the acts of white segregationists than to those of the civil rights movement. The images of those in the civil rights movement were positive images of continued pg 13. PDF compression, OCR, Northern Woman Pageweb 12 optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �GST THANKS, BROADSIDE Earlier this summer the final issue of BROADSIDE was published. While understanding the many reasons for BROADSIDE's closing - not the least of which was being plain tired out - we feel a deep sadness that we have lost this important feminist resource. For ten years BROADSIDE published an insightful, provocative meaningful feminist newspaper inspiring its readers (and other feminist journals) to expand our analysis. and motivating our continuing activism. Although collectively produced in Toronto, BROADSIDE was seen as a Canadian paper. We suggest that it is women from small and isolated communities across the country who value - and will miss - BROADSIDE most. (Our own experience confirms that the NWJ has more importance to the lives of rural rather than urban women.) We will miss you BROADSIDE. We hope that existing and emerging feminist journals will fill the void. We know that the commitment of the individual BROADSIDE members will be directed to other feminist endeavours. We wish each of you continued from pg 3 (Interestingly another phenomena appears. It is probable that U.S. and other foreign hooks and magazines that are individually imported into Canada will escape the tax. This would place Canadian publishers and distributors at a competitive disadvantage.) The average book buyer has a limited amount to spend on books. Say you intend to spend $25. Betore GST ou will purchase three hooks. after GsT you will purchase two books. Think the effect this will have on lishers are small operations. With the f7S1 all Canadian publishers will sutler Invariably it is the small presses ) the presses most vulnerable to the CST) that publish new writers. In response to the need for women s feminist presses have evolved. losses the small publishers will not he able to absorb serious losses We could \X- omen s Press. Press Gang, Ragweed/ rynergy Sister V tston Women of Colour publi:thers. The majority of Canadian pub- to lose of our Canadian publishers. Glancing through the Northern Woman s Bookstore shelves I determine that the vast majority of the Canadian authored hooks stocked are published by the small presses. Included in this to name just a few are category leannete Armstrong. Sharon Butula, Anne Cameron. Susan Cole. Susan Crean. Beatrice Culleton, Dionne Brand: Bonnie Burnard, Ell': Danica, :`-:joie Brossard. legan Ellis. Connie Gault. Cynthia FloOd. helen Potrehenko. veronica Ross lane !,1 i 1 1 We thank you for the cooperation BROADSIDE has extended to the Makeda Silvera, Donna Smk-th. Laremna norrht Press, Aminita. There are other small Canadian presses that have an impressive record of publishing new women writers Coteau. NeWest, Oberon, Polestar. New Star....to name but a few. The publishers of Native writers...Pemmican and Theytus must also be mentioned. "With the publication of our wonderful women writers, feminist bookstores have sprouted across the country to ensure access to this fine literature. The GST will place all feminist all small publishers/booksellers in jeopardy. publishers/booksellers The GST must be stopped. NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL over these past ten years. We especially thank vou for the tremendous contribution BROADSIDE has made to WOMEN AND THE GOODS AND SERVICES TAX - the Canadian feminist movement. Taxes on everything women buy: 120000Ef00001Nyoomffi The GS'I will apply to hydro. heating oil, diaphragms, condoms, children s clothes. diaperS. haircuts. telephone, stamps and postal services, plumbing and home repairs. boots and shoes, hooks, movie tickets, kids meals at illcDonalds., and much. much more. continutA from pg people marching. singing and sitting in for their rights. The images of "Operation Rescue" bear no similarity. They are images of people waving plastic fetuses at women who are seeking assistance, or people trying to physically block and intimidate those who are excercising their lawful rights. The courageous images of -women trying to enter the clinic. of volunteers who are trying to escort them through the mob. The leaders of the civil rights movement maintain that a woman s right to choose is a civil right one that the pro-choice movement has struggled to establish in Canada and the United States, and that the majority in both countries support. Coercive and intimidating civil disobedience does not conjure an image of the struggle for human rights. Helping a woman who wants to terminate a pregnancy through a crowd determined to keep her from exercising her rights. does. A tax on mothers who work out side the home: Prepared food for tale " out will he taxed. Government is ae fin punishing women who must work outside the home to make ends meet and who dun t have the time to cook Lneais from scfatch every day. Not only is the Conservative government reneging on child care. which places an added 1-.)urden on mothers working outside the home,. Put now wants to tax them to .ti at ri Literally to death 'the new tax \\.111 even appiv to curl ins and tunerais.. A soecial tat for women..Sanitark ari;.:1 tampons will be taxed. Apnot thc Worse for women in economically depressed regions: The 94:: federal try I,: in addition To existing provincial taxes This means Newfoundland will pat a total tax on many goods. What can you do about the tax: Let the government know that you won't stand for it. Organize or participate in rallies. Write to Finance Minister Michael Wilson postage-free at the house 01 Commons 't alk to your friends and family about the importance of defeating this lay,. Organizations can present a brief to the hearings. Women in japan recently mounted a national campaign against a proposed ,3% sales tax and won, The women of Canada can do the same for a 9% tax. A +f8 4 44 4 A A AA A4 4 A A 4 A 4' 4 AA. A 4 4 4. 4: *4 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor ticg4 13 �By Jane Saunders Perhaps the best way that I can describe Heather gishops latest album Walk Thai Edge is undecided. This album, released by Heather's own Mother of Pearl label, is a sound representative of her two-track style which blends old and new. These two musical forces are not necessarily opposites, they just seem not to mix very well, While trying to retain the "old" style - powerful vocals and meaningful lyrics - Heather seems to have given in a bit too much to the attractive elements of the "new" style - punchy beat, synthesized sounds and danceability. The musical result is an album whose character is undecided, It has elements both old and new and all points in between, It leaves this listener rather "undecided". I like both styles. I am not sure whether or not I like their combination on this album. I have been a fan of Heather Bishop for many years. Each of the five times I have seen her, I have been moved, challenged, saddened and overjoyed all the things that I feel make a complete musical performance. When listening to her earlier albums, Grandmother's Song (1979) and Celebration (1981). I experience all those same feelings. The raw power of her voice "Do I Move You". the simple songs with only piano or guitar accompaniment "Our Silence" which cut straight to the point, the social message 'Holocaust", the Canadian content "Northlands" and the personal politics "There Comes a Time that have marked her style are all there. Beginning with the 1982 release._ Love Women, Heather moved into the newer sounds which also affected other womyn singer/songwriters during this time. Synthesizers, the electric guitar and a punctuating beat appear on the I Love Women and create a more rock-oriented sound. This trend continued on A Taste of the Blues (1987), although this album contained some nostalgia - the Billie Holiday blues classic "Tell Me More and More" and the social-anthem "If You Love Freedom" With Walk That Edge Heather mixes the old and new styles. The overall tone of the album is rock-oriented, characterized by three upbeat tunes with punchy drum lines and electric sounds. Both "Given for Free" and "Annamae" are rock songs with a message. "I'm Not the One" is a catchy tune with a great electric guitar solo for those who like such sounds. The melodic lines in these three songs are short and choppy with a narrow range; typical of rock songs. This listener prefers the intensity of those long, smooth, pliable melodic lines that have become a forum for the full power of Heather's voice, "Lay Me Down provides such an opportunity, The melody curves and bends under her voice. The piano is the mainstay of the accompaniment along with the full back-up vocals which prevade the entire album. A harmonica is added later, a sample of the colourful range of sounds available to the ear on this Love, a thematic thread on the album, provides the basis for a cour of pleasant, listenable soft ballads, Call You to Sail" and "Blanket of My Love" are the less demanding tunes be heard. Heather's musical playfulness and sense of humour is shown the 1950s sounding "Let Them Talk' and "Break My Heart". Strong back--1 vocals, the rhythmic piano and the slow blues beat make these two son fun for the listener. Another of the album's highlights is the title song "Walk That Edge ". This tune is catch' Its overall tone is slightly funky an very danceable with a touch of lightheartedness. This album is yet another fine example of Heather's musical flexibility and musical progress. Perhap am stuck in the groove of the 1970s Heather - folk and acoustic music fo: the demanding listener, Walk That Edge is an enjoyable listen, It may n be what I expected from Heather 15'i hop. That thought in itself may bl sign of her musical progress and my musical preference. 0000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000 SSUSSUSSUSSS canadian woman studies les cahiers de la femme,- CWS/y album, SSMSSSSMSSMS SSSSMSSMSSSSS Feminist Quarterly 100-page beautifully illustrated forum for education, advocacy and change articles on current issues, theory and action each issue examines a topic specific to women's experiences and concerns Please enclose money-order or cheque CHILDREN'S HELP LINE Canada's first national toll free help line for children was set up in May by the Canadian Children's Foundation (CCF). KID'S HELP PHONE will be open 24 hours a day and staffed with twenty bilingual professional counsellors assesses The Help Phone was set up in response to a 1986 survey that indicated at least one in eight children in Canada are abused. KID'S HELP LINE will offer counselling to kids who witness violence in the home, are depressed, abused and those who suffer from loneliness, school problems and neglect. for $22 payable to Canadian Woman Studies for a yearly subscription (4 issues). For faster service call our office (416)736-5356. Outside Canada, add $6. Name Address City Postal Code Province Country Canadian Woman Studies 212 Founders College, York University 4700 Keele St., Downsview, Ont. M3J 1P3 KID'S HELP LINE can be contacted toll free and anonymously at 1-800-668-6868. #44 At########################### Northern Woman Page 14 optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor PDF compression, OCR, web �continued from pg many such committees have been developed. PAY EQUITY AND NON-UNION WORKPLACES For Women working in a non-unionized conipan-. the aet provides no guaranteed access to the process of deciding vehich inbs are male or lec ale. how they will be compared and how payout will be made. The only information that is guaranteed is access to the final decaston which may he appealed to the Pay Equity Commission anonymously if you feel that the pay equity plan posted does not accurately reflect the legislation. WILL PAY EQUITY APPLY TO ALL WOMEN The Pay Equity Act will not apply to women working for federally-regulated employers Canadian Human Rights Code has an equal pay for work of equal value section which may he usejut t to women working in private co111panics with less than 10 employees: and to women working in jobs defined as mons jobs. It does apply to women and men who are working in female dominated jobs but they will only receive a pay raise it a higher-paid but equaliv valued male job exists in the same \vorkplace This is a serious problem since many -:,-omen work in workplaces that are totally or highly dominated by women and they may not he able to find a male comparator in the same workplace Sonae eyainpies are nospaafs. dentist s and doctor s ofi ices. retail stores. child care eenires social serk ice groups and nomes. In order to remedy this large gap in the Act. the Par Equity Commission was investigate how tcl extend authorized the Act to cover women in female-dominated workplaces. Their recommendations were released in October 1989 and will need amendments to the Act in order to be implemented. HOW MUCH WILL WOMEN'S WAGES RISE Although the wage gap caused by discrimination is 10% to 12%, pay equip:: will not close it completely. due to the above reasons. We will not know the answer to this question until 1993 hen all plans are posted, and the answer will differ significantly depending whether the Act is amended to cover we omen -dominated workplaces This article greatly summarizes ihe Pay Equity Act and therefore due; .not include an situations and exclusions. For specific information. NOTE: please refer to the Pay Equity Commission and their publications: Their address is 150 Eglinton Ave. East, 5th Floor, Toronto, ON M4P 1E8 and their telephone number is 1 -800387 -8813. '3'.8"3".8'.5"3"3.833S3`.V.1453333.3".8333.33.13.8'.5.8S3,133.8.1"._VS3 SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SASS SSSWSSSS BOOK REVIEW Weivs ut K111.1;4;4)9 "Through . listening and responding, What i found valuanle about this book the is the volidatien the authors give to different ways of thinking and the Rule and Tarule Jill Mattuck. minds of those They. nelp to raise up. in the process, they often come to New York- Basic Books, 1986. heal, vdlue Women's Ways Of Knowing is based voiceis iwid minds as efeH " (pg. 48). Subiective knowing is also examined. upon research among several groups from the women ranging of This validates our intuitive selves political" and "the personal is educationally elite to women with no accepted. Truth comes in what "feels" or little formal education. What is critical in their finding is the comfortable. There is a gaining of a sense of self and self discovery. validation that there are different ways of thinking and that it is "okay" to th1nI4 differently And of course Procedural knowing is the application of Kr,: wledges in an objective fashion wnicn re$Jriti, in what is termed ii.eutirate knowing. Comuared to this is groups .l. -.also realized how difficult it is for we who enter academia-and faced with a majority of are patriarchal thought. in ell honesty it was exciting to read 'Wags of Knowing" and to realize how and mong of my friends think and to know that that thinking is valid._ And not just. valid, have known that all These :::setand mode of procedural knowing along, but that we join together in di farm? mods :. cif thought du not indicate different planes of intellect tormed connected knowing. Here the value is placed upon "the kind of truth we value- truth that is personal, particular and grounded in tirst hand experience." (pg 113) The connected knower fucuses upon the relationship, that thinking using ernpathu. Combining environment: The authors seem to Authf.ir:Eielenkg, Meru Field., Clinchu. Ellithe ficVicker, Goldberg, Nancy these oitiere.nce.s are in respect to untri per specti yes. but rather reflect lifes e4eriences percei,,Ing and living and our with the world, and knowing. Inc tiret mode which the authors explore is silence. Those interviewed acknowledge this as a time of they draw out and the voices and strenothen their own separate confinement and insecurity. Silence knowing, that which is attached to rules with connected knowing, that which is personal and spiritual was a tool used by these women to remain safe. "The women see blind results in constructed knowledge, The passionate knower". 'the obedience to authorities as utmost ronstructIve knower speaks with passiun of her work "They reveal in the way they speak and live their lives, their moral conviction that importance for keeping out of trouble and insuring their own survival" (pg 28). A e.eeond I I applicable to numerous oppressed I particularly gained a I great deal from the chapters on Subjective knowing and to know that I was not alone. It was a consciousness. raising experience and in a sense the book provided a support group reach but to touch the reader in a personal is political fashion, This is a have - been looking for The book thoughts therein. and dialogue of the authors was well worth the wait. It is empowering, personal and the kind of book you give to your special friends, I and read over and over: _ mode of thinking is termed received knowledge, or the role as listener. _ clearness that all of these ways are important. As read thought that of thinking may in fact be these The author's found that listeners encouraged others to speak. ideas and values, like children, must be nurtured, cared for, placed in the environment that helps them grow." Reviewed by. Kit Minor Thunder Boy, Ontario November, 1989 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 15 �Update 01,04441MAPC)44:044:441.441.4.0 NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO GLOBAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN'S HEALTH INFORMATION WOMEN announces that its kit What Can I Do? has been presented to local and regional libraries and Domestic violence is a cruel reality around the world says the report from organizations. WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE in NETWORK Washington. The kit is a resource book and video and will be useful for individuals and groups who have found problems in some part of the health care system and who want to learn how to make changes in that health care system. The video shows women in Northwestern Ontario who have made changes by sitting on a hospital board, joining the District Health Council, starting a lobby group and two self-help groups. The kit describes how various government departments are set up and contains workshops that people can use to develop strategies to ensure government legislation is responsive to their needs. Africa and India are identified as particular problem areas, but no society or socio-economic group has been spared the problem. "If a person is murdered because of her/his politics, the world justifiably responds with outrage. But if a person is beaten or allowed to die because she is female, the world dismisses it as a 'cultural tradition'," says the report. Societies tacitly condone the violence through silence "or worse yet, legitimize it through laws, customs and court opinions that blatantly discriminate against women-, United Nations Secretary General has called for redoubled efforts for women's rights stating that violence asgainst women is a major concern. What Con I 1-497 kit was made possible with funding from Secretary of State and Ontario Women's Directorate. Source: Globe & Mail / Kinesis For information about the kit, call WHIN at 345-1410 in Thunder Bay. The Thunder Bay Co-ordinating Committee on Family Violence is eHeited to announce, as part of their public education program during Family Violence Preventio Month (November), the COMPANY OF SIRENS, a feminist theatre troupe, will be in Thunder Bay Monday, November 27th through Wednesday, November 29th. The Company of Sirens performances will be SHELTER FROM ASSAULT. Performances are free of charge the public and will be held: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 at 2:00 prr in the BOAR LASKIN AUDITORIUM it the Faculty of Education Building; Lakehead University. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 at 7:30 fur in the LECTURE THEATRE at CONFEDERATION COLLEGE. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29 at 1:30 pm in the LECTURE THEATRE at CONFEDERATION COLLEGE. Performances will also be held in high schools in Thunder Bay. Wat for posters and newspaper notice for days and times. NB: A possibility that a perfor- mance of The Working People's Picture Show will also be happening.) k.,_yemko owww-.2%,,et,ew, 0;;N $$$$$$$$$$$$$NEEDED$$$$$ Does the heading look familiar? Indeed, it has appeared in NIUJ many times over our 16 year her- story. Actually, we Weill made a funding appeal for a number of years, but with increased printing costs, federal government intentions to reduce postal subsidies, and the additional threat of the GST, the Northern Woman Journal finds herself in the not unfamiliar situation of Imminent poverty, Our readers have always rallied to our need and we are sure you will again. While cash donations are always welcome, the best help you can provide is encouraging two (or W-2 0-%( wAN Yo7.Wmkg' "AN c,0ctv, MUM We would welcome your suggestions for increasing Journal sales/subscriptions and will be grateful for any help you can glue. three or four or five! of your friends, neighbours, colleagues to subscribe to Nast'. If we doubled our subscriptions we'd have no financial woes. If we tripled our subscriptions we could even invest in new technology and supplies that would visually improve our paper. We can provide sample copies of the Journal for you to give as a subscribing incentive (pick these up at the Northern Woman Bookstore or write us at BoH 144, P7C 4115. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 16 �Second Class Mail Registration No. 5697 Don't forget to renew your SUBSCRIPTION INSIDE n2 EDITORIAL p2 60 YEARS A PERSON p3 ABORTION RE-CRIMINALIZED p3 GST p4 HERSTORY p5 ONTARIO WOMEN'S DIRECTORATE p6 STORY by JOSIE WALLENIUS p7 PAY EQUITY p8 SEXUAL TERRORISM, MALE TERRORISTS pll RAGING GRANNIES p12 CLINIC HARRASSMENT p14 RECORD REVIEW p15 BOOK REVIEW NAME ADDRESS POSTAL CODE RETURN TO: $ 6.00 Individual Institutional $1 2.00 NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4V5 THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. BOX 144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 Return Postage Guaranteed Nor-I-herr\ Woman 17)u_rnat PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 12 No 2 Description An account of the resource Vol. 12, no. 2 (November 1989) Title: Northern Woman Journal Topics include: 60 Years a Person Abortion access Goods and services tax Herstories calendar Pay equity Xenophobia Sexual terrorism Violence against women Women and the skilled trades Raging Grannies Poetry Christian Right clinic harassment Women the the GST Record review of Walk that Edge by Heather Bishop Children’s helpline Feminist book review of Women’s Ways of Knowing by mary Field Belenky et al. Northwestern Ontario Women’s Health Information Network Global violence against women Thunder Bay Co-ordinating Committee on Family Violence Authors/contributors: Margaret Phillips Ontario Women’s Directorate Lynn Beak Melanie Randall Marian MacAdam Josie Wallenius Rosalyn Taylor Jane Saunders Kit Minor Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-11 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2820/1990_Vol_12_No_3.pdf 2891d90c876f0918c2671dd0423386ad PDF Text Text sj 5 Northern Woman Journal Volume 12 No. 3 Thunder Bag, Ontario REFLECT I NG RECOLLECT I NG RE- COLLECT- ING PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �EDITORIAL On December 6, 1989, fourteen women were murdered in Montreal. Bursting into a classroom at L'Ecole Polytechnic at L'Universite de Montreal, ordering the separation of women and men, a man shouted "I hate Feminists" and opened fire on the women. The carnage continued throughout other areas of L'Ecole Polytechnic, and when the man finally turned the gun on himself 14 women were dead. The violence against women did not stop in Montreal. In Thunder Bay, the feminist community was subjected to a more subtle form of hatred. Throughout the country Canadians mourned the Montreal tragedy. Privately and publicly vigils were held. In Thunder Bay, at least three vigils were held - a public vigil organized by the United Church, a University sponsored vigil, and a woman-only vigil coordinated by Northern Women's Centre. The decision of Northern Women's Centre (a necessary and important decision that we support absolutely) to hold a woman-only vigil unleashed a vitriolic and sustained women-hating attack by some local media, unmatched in recent memory. The need for women to gather in a safe place to mourn, to share our grief, to sustain ourselves and each other, and to engender the strength to carry on without fear, was denied to the women of Thunder Bay. Our attempt to quietly honour the Montreal women whose lives were taken was invaded by the greed, avarice and sexism of some local media. The relentless need of capitalist patriarchy to invalidate, diminish, invade and control women - battered us - but left us much wiser. Now weeks after the Montreal tragedy our grief is not abated. The healing process is only beginning. To assist this healing process this Northern Woman Joun provides a vehicle for women to articulate our pain, our grief, our rage. Many of the submissions are written anonymously as we believe while our feelings, our responses, a unique to each of us, they are also universal. We offer this Journal to 1 the women of Northwestern Ontario break our isolation and to empower all. '" .6vAec Links UsY411441in9 bt6 acujio- Charnovs In recent weeks we have been painfully reminded that we live, not only in a sexist society, but also in a racist society. Those of us who strive to make Thunder Bay a more just and humane community feel a deep sense of shame that our City Council (by a 9-4 vote) chose to pass an "English only" resolution. The Northern Woman Journal commends Councillors Kennedy, Miller and Laakonen and Mayor Masters, for their opposition to this repugnant and regressive action. The claim that the resolution was motivated by economics defies logic, as Ontario's Bill 8 does not require municipalities to provide (or finance) bilingual services. While only the individuals involved can define their particular motivation in supporting this resolution, the effect of Council's action has been to give credibility and licence to the bigotry and intolerance that is now being verbalized - in the workplace, in school, on the street - throughout our That great damage has been done to our community, its reputation, and our psyche, cannot be discounted. A very thin veneer lies over the ugly face of racism. We can only hope that the Thunder Bay experience will encourage us, individually and collectively, to examine, confront and eradicate, the racism within our society, our community and ourselves. I am a woman committed to a politics of transliteration, the methodology of a mind stunned at the suddenly possible shifts of meaning for which like amnesiacs in a ward of fire, we must find words or burn. -Olga Broumas, "Artemis" community. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman' Page 2 �WHY? WHY did fourteen women have to die in the prime of their life: because of a time? a place? a choice of career? WHY? As the pain numbs, I am left with the question WHY. Not why Marc Lepine chose to murder 14 young women; he left that message in the wake of his destruction. But WHY society chose not to believe him. WHY would they not hear his vengeful blaming of women and feminists for his failures? WHY they chose not to question further? Simply to label him mad. Close the book. WHY the fear in examining his hateful motive? Could it have been that to enter the debate may have caused a floodgate of other such blame and hate. A hate that society does not want to acknowledge could exist. WHY did men and women alike struggle so hard to distance this act from other acts of violence against women? Isolate it; not acknowledge it in the spectrum of violence; so horrendous, so unbelievable, impossible that it happened; impossible that it could ever happen again. WHY the backlash against the women's vigil? WHY did many assume that men had a right to invade women's private grief and prayer? WHY was the energy spent attacking WHY do we believe that we have exposed violence against women and children, that attitudes are changing and that society is responding? WHY when we look for answers, do we find only questions? WHY? <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> the women's vigil and not spent supporting and comforting at the other vigils which were held? WHY was gaining control of the women's vigil more appropriate than sharing the loss; each in their own way? WHY were some of us frightened for the vigil; for the women in the circle of grief? ' <><> < > <> < ><><><><>< ><><><> <><><><> < >< > < > <> < > < ><> <><> REFLECTING feminism?" she asked me. "Why?" There is pain in that question, and I search for the best way to answer. Feminism makes such good sense to her - my bright and happy young friend. It is mid-summer and we are enjoying our annual visit. My friend is full of news. She has just completed her Masters degree; several years of summer employment has resulted in a permanent job, an interesting career, with opportunity to enhance her creativity; and she is soon to undertake a permanent commitment with her much-loved partner. Life is good - the future looks rosy. that will absorb her strength for the rest of her days. How do I empower my beautiful young friend? For indeed, feminism is a life long commitment. A commitment that is hard --- is bone wearying. But, that it is the only life worth living. In the difficult weeks since December 6th, I have thought many times of my bright, young feminist friend. ******************************* I don't normally watch television before 10 p.m. But this evening I am "What really bothers me" she says doing craft work - making Christmas "is the sexism I find at work. I didn't presents - and I switch the tv on, expect it out in the 'adult world'. It paying it only casual attention. Prowas really bad at university, from both gramming is interrupted. News the students and the faculty, but I bulletin. A mass murder has occurred thought I'd be done with it when I in Montreal. A man with a gun has finished school." stormed into a university classroom separated the women and the men. No How do I tell her gently that sexism further details presently available. is universal? How do I explain that a More news will be forthcoming on the commitment to feminism is a struggle National. nw who has been slaughtered. I knew. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization watermarked The newsusing detailsathe massacre, I evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �I am in my kitchen preparing breakfast. Suddenly, tears flow down my face. I let the tears fall gently -until it is time to force myself to leave for work. So I wash my swollen eyes, and with halting steps leave the (relative) safety of my home. (This unexpected breaking into tears happens every morning until I leave town eighteen days later.) At work, the phone is ringing as I walk in the door. It is a local media representative wanting to know what is being done about a vigil. I later learn that every feminist organization in the community received similar calls. The local media are quick to explain the Montreal massacre as a random act of an insane man - to suggest a connection to societal violence against women is "overreactitie. Dkl th6 'same media ask themselves why they assumed the feminist community would organize a vigil? I hear again the ugly words - bitch, broad, cunt - from men who were threatened by my strength, my competence. I hear again, the venom in their voices. I relive, I relive, I feel the cold - cold knife against my throat. ******************************** I think of the dozens of times ov, the past fifteen years that we have asked this newspaper to cover a woman's event/issue, and their regu refusal ... their dismissal of women' issues as 'news'. the motions. A colleague comes by. "I can't do any work" she admits. "I just can't do anything." I know. I know. ******************************** I relive and relive incidences of violence I have experienced. Memories long buried leap unexpectedly to the forefront of my mind. I feel, again, the slap across my face from the teenage date who I refused to "obey". The stress settles in my back, restricting my physical mobility. I dec I need therapy. I am lying naked, electrodes probing and pulsating rm, aching back. Trying to maximize th healing process, I am jolted to hear doctor pronounce "I do not approve women holding a woman-only vigil This is a man who would proclaim abhorrence of violence. Does he or does he not understand the violence has just imposed on me? Sunday's paper contains front pa; headlines of our woman-vigil. A reporter, playing the role of a grievin woman, invades our grief, our heali Her article, awkwardly, attempts to sensationalize. It is hard to believe v attended the same event. are -37- go through the sifWitTairrEic. I learn the Wonlen's Centre is coordinating a woman-only vigil. I feel so relieved. Even though I still find it enormously difficult to speak about the massacre, even with my best friend, I have a tremendous need to mourn this tragedy with other women. *****************************: ***************************** I face a heavy work load - have major responsibilities to carry out. It is enormously diffIcUlt,to tackle even I receive a call from a local minister informing me of the vigil being held at Westminster Church. I help publicize this information. So many women are hurting. I a hurting so bad I cannot help anyone I worry about the women who, while still grieving the Montreal tragedy, must face hostile male environments. Especially the young women, the university and high school women. Daily we hear about incidences of threats ... at universities, at work places, at the offices of women's organizations, women's centres. I talk to a friend, a woman who has displayed courage in publicly challenging men to examine their violence. She has been harassed and trashed. She tells me of her friend who has received a death threat. She mentions the shit that was dumped on her door-step. And her refusal to allow a national television crew to film her reaction to this. The weariness in her voice overwhelms me. The hatred oozing from the new paper's editorials wears me down. Why do I stay in this misogynist tov I must not let depression overcome me. I must take action. I write a letter to the editor. I pc out men's hatred of women, both subtle and overt, and the promotior this hatred by their editorial privile I do not mail this letter. I rationalize and rationalize my decision not to send the letter. Eventually, I force myself to acknowledge my fear. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *$ Northern Woman e4 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �I was over 40 years of age when I first faced life-threatening violence. I survived - without serious physical harm. But I - my life - was changed irrevocably. It was the first time I experienced intense physical fear. The kind of fear thousands, millions of women around the world endure as part of their daily lives. Can you understand it without experiencing it? I doubt it. My danger lasted minutes. Many women's danger lasts a lifetime. The potential of such danger faces every woman every day of her life. ******************************** "Every time we fight for a basic human right for ourselves, a right that should be ours simply because we exist, we are told that we are infringing on someone else's rights - that 'WE are morally corrupt for wanting a decent life, control over our own destinies, and freedom from exploitation I know I must take action, somehow revive a strength to go forward. And so I begin to write. For me the greatest healing process. I pick up the pen. The words begin to flow. And the healing begins. and violence. We must recognize this as a patriarchal tactic to keep us on the defensive - to intimidate us, to send us home silen And: them-thegAntetieans invade. Back the Night ******************************** <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> NEVER SAFE: When they were young girls, I seemed always to be telling my daughters to call home to let me know where they were, who they were with, where they were going and when they would be home. Secretly it was to be sure they were 'safe'. They complained but they called and they were always 'safe'. On December 7, 1989 at 9:00 a.m. my daughter called me from her campus terrified and devastated. She was no longer 'safe'. As a student she was horrified at the killings of young women at the University of Montreal campus. She was scared the same thing could happen to her and other young women on her campus. "Why? What do I tell young women who are coming to me? What can we do?" We talked about the history of male violence against women and girls in the home, at parties, on the street, in the workplace, on campus. All horrendous acts of violence performed one at a time, every day, over hundreds of years and if not condoned by all of society certainly never legislated against. Montreal was a personification of this violence. How can a saddened mother, an angry feminist quietly talk to a terrified daughter? How can a grieving mother for those 14 other mothers assure a daughter 1,500 miles away? How can we justify years of protecting our daughters as children only to send them off as young women to a world of violence? How can we justify telling them they are as good as their brothers and male friends - they can become whatever they want to become- only to have them experience harassment in their workplaces and violence in their lives? We must continue to tell them they are wonderful, capable and now courageous women. We must also retell them of the work and struggles of their mothers and our mothers' work and struggles against male violence against women. We must encourage - demand - that they join us collectively in this struggle so that hopefully they will not have to worry the same worries about their daughters in a new generation. We must continue to be patient and loving and hopeful and courageous and allow them to spend their lives as normally as possible; when we allow them to spend the night with friends from elementary and high school, when we send them off to campuses at the begin-ning of a new life or the end of the holidays at home, when we say goodbye to them when they leave with a new career or husband to begin their adult lives. Must we instill a new fear in their lives that they will never be 'safe' again? PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Ncirthern Woman Page 5 �I think of a poster I have. I have always pondered the meaning of it. I wonder when the day will come 1990 YEAR OF THE GIRLCHI that life returns to bear the gifts of At a recent international congress, seven South Asian governments FREEDOM for and LOVE of women The poster says: I saw a woman sleeping. In her sleep she dreamt life stood before her and she held in each hand a gift. In the one hand LOVE and in the other FREEDOM. And she said to the woman, "Choose". And the woman waited long and she said, "Freedom". And life said, "Thou had'st well chosen, if thou had'st said love I would have given thee that thou did'st ask for and I would have gone from thee and returned to thee no more. Now the day will come when I shall return. In that day I shall bear both gifts in one hand." I heard the woman laugh in her Olive Schreiner sleep. A V A V A V A V A V A V A V A V A A V A V A V A V declared 1990 The Year of the Girl Child. The governments of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Banglad Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives wi undertake a year long campaign to educate their populations, particula men, on the value of daughters. Th campaign will stress the need to educate girls, feed them properly a recognize their important economic contribution to family and commur life. In these countries there is-a hid rate of female infanticide. Girls are often viewed as a liability, partly because of dowry obligations upon marriage and are not held in esteen This campaign is a bold step forwa for women in these rural developin countries. > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < >< > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > < > 4) FIGHT BACK As odd as it may seem to some people, I deal with many things in my life through music. Because music is such a big part of my life, when I am faced w'sis; wrtert tam- crystallized on one song. Out of this horrible tragedy, I have re-discovered an empowering song which I can "tap into" for strength and then use as my - struggling or celebrating, I often use music as a way to access my own feelings. As many "fans" of womyn's music have done before, we all identify with the songs which identify with us at our own particular points in time. The songs that touch us most perhaps we have heard at a time when we really needed to hear them written and performed by other women. Such songs affirm our experiences and serve to bond many women who are experiencing similar feelings. My reaction to Montreal was one of shock and horror, although I am never thoroughly surprised at the scope of men's actions when it comes to violence against women. I was quickly able to see beneath the surface and discover the deeper significance of the shootings. The aftermath of explanations, justifications, etc. that women had to provide in order to have women-only vigils and in general do what was necessary to survive further discouraged, frustrated and angered US. Like many other times before in my life when I have listened to songs for their healing power, my feelings Northern Woman Page 6 (from Imagine My Surprise, Redwood Records, 1979) is that song. The Montreal tragedy and the reaction to it are blatant examples of the woman-hating society we live in. What is even more tragic are the daily, "less noticed" examples - perhaps not even reported in our local newspaper or reported to anyone. Rape, battering, pornography are all part of this tragedy. The lyrics to FIGHT BACK reminded me, at the time when I needed it most, that I as a woman have strength. We as women are empowered. FIGHT BACK (Holly Near) By day I lived in terror, By night I lived in fright, For as long as I can remember A lady don't go out at night A lady don't go out at night. But I don't accept the verdict, It's an old one anyway, "Cause now-a-days a woman Can't even go out in the middle of the Can't even go out in the middle of the day day. And so we've got to FIGHT BA( In large numbers FIGHT BACK We can't make it alone In large numbers Together we can make a safe ho Women all around the world Every colour, religion and age, One thing we've got in common We can all be battered and rapes We can all be battered and rapec And so we've got to FIGHT BA In large numbers FIGHT BACK We can't make it alone, FIGHT BACK In large numbers Together we can make a safe ho Some have an easy answer, Buy a lock and live in a cage, But my fear is turning to anger And my anger is turning to rage And I won't live my life in a cag And so we've got to FIGHT BA In large numbers, FIGHT BACK We can't make it alone, FIGHT BACK In large numbers Together we can make a safe ho PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �had heard of the community vigil to be held that night at the United Church. One replied he never would go to a church anyway. That evening the abusive and threatening calls started at Anna's house. At the University four men approached her and called her a "fucking bitch". The women at the Centre were under incredible stress from being the target of so much rage. They were dreadfully hurt and angry at the misrepresentation on the radio and later on local talk shows and television. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9 The local newspaper expressed it clearly. The shootings were caused by "the divisions created in Canadian society by the mere presence of the women's movement". By insisting on barring men from their vigil the Northern Woman's Centre "invites the very negative attitudes against women it strives to erase". The story made the national media. Almost all reports omitted the fact that there were two other vigil services in Thunder Bay much less describe the Centre's 'involvement with the other services. The impression created was that in Thunder Bay the women had decided not to allow men to mourn. The language used was instructive. The men were "barred", "denied entry" or "not welcome". The impression created was that there were dozens of men who wanted to attend the Woman's Centre vigil but were unable to do so. In fact we received no calls from men who wanted to attend our services. Nevertheless, the Sault Star headlined Thunder Bay Vigil Excludes Men (once again no mention of other services. No Men Allowed at Ontario Vigil thundered the Toronto Star also carefully omitting any reference to the other memorial services and forgetting their editorial approval given the day before to women holding memorial services. Men were "actually barred" a later Star article stated leaving the impression that men clambered to get in at the door as women organizers barred their way. These impressions were absolutely false and showed a shameful lack of responsibility on the part of the media not to mention a shameful forgetting of what the vigil service was supposed to be about. "Even if Brian Mulroney were to turn up in Thunder Bay he would be turned away", said the local paper. Others carried on in the same vein, one letter writer saying if the husbands and fathers of the dead arrived, they too would be barred. A spokesman for the 'other side' was soon found. A local alderman was quoted as saying that our actions were "mind terrorism". He was quoted (without further explanation) by almost every major newspaper and news broadcaster. Although Anna's explanations were usually quoted correctly, it was as if she hadn't spoken. She might as well have wrapped her words in a rock and thrown them into Lake Superior. No credence of any sort was given to women's desires or needs. We were thundered against in the press and on the radio. The local talk show host claimed he had thirty five male callers who were angry that men were excluded. The men objected: "Why must we be associated with the crazed killer?" And there is the nub of the matter. The callers to the talk line were not interested in attending a service; they believe the very fact of women getting together indicated they were being accused of the crime. They interpreted not being invited as an insult. Clearly, they believed it was their right to go wherever they wanted. We now began to get calls from feminists across the country wanting to know what was going on. Again the patient explanations and again almost all women said that by talking to us they had a different picture from the one they had picked up in the media. But in general, by now, the shift in focus from women's pain to men's perception of loss of rights was complete. As the same media mentioned just a day previously on December 8, we do indeed live in a very misogynous society. THE BACKLASH I do not want to give the impression that a memorial service in Thunder Bay created a backlash. As I have mentioned at the start of this article, the backlash was building from the beginning as shown by Barbara Frum's interview and the Montreal talk show. Incidents - some of them terrifying were happening across the country. University of Toronto employee brought a handgun to work and mad favourable comments about the killings. The virulent reaction to ou: memorial service was caused by the building backlash, not visa versa. The elements in the backlash shif rapidly from 1) Fru' m's contention t women were not the target to 2) suggestions from many media sourci that the murders were just the work an irrational madman without wider significance to 3) the contention that radical feminists were using this tragedy as a platform against men. By December 13, The Star, agai forgetting their previous commitme: to fighting misogyny wrote an articl about 'the confusion' caused by the killings and stated some men "find tl entire feminist analysis of the mass murders irrelevant, if not personally offensive". The same article mentioned a ma only service without comment (Star, Dec. 13). As one Centre member so wisely put it, when men get together is accepted it is-for a-sepietts-pmposi when women get together it is to exclude men. I want to make only one more comment on the backlash. That was Mike Duffy show aired on Sunday, December 10 and taped in Thunder Bay Friday, December 9. This show reveals a further mutation in the backlash. Anna agreed to be the Centre's representative and be televised at the local TV station and answer Duffy's questions through a telephone hook-up. I went with her moral support. The show opened with the usual questions about why Thunder Bay h decided not to allow men to mourn victims of the massacre. Anna patiei explained once again that there was community service open to all on Friday night. This was passed over silence. (After the taping, Duffy sail he was not aware of the other servic in Thunder Bay and said it was a shame that this fact had not been me widely publicized!) PDF compression, OCR, web using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Nciethern Woman Pageoptimization 10 �Once again as she had done for newspapers and radio hosts, Anna reiterated the reasons for a woman only vigil as well as a community vigil. I knew that in her mind, as in my mind, was the memory of the emotion and distress that women felt and were still feeling; but how to make people understand, believe it, want to help. She talked about emotional scarring and how people, both men and women, tend to underestimate it. She talked about how the slayings had triggered intense fear in women who had experienced violence. She talked about the need to be supportive of women in pain and that if men really want to be supportive they should do that in a way women ask them to do. Again it was as if she hadn't said a word. NoTelponse came from Duffy. Instead he called Thunder Bay the "emerging symbol of polarization between the sexes". He noted that we had been labeled mind terrorists. At one point he said something very revealing. "Surely the object of this whole exercise (the vigil) was to draw men and women together." Having created polarization, having heightened misogynist tendencies around us, the media now was expecting us to readjust our mourning to fit in with their definition of what mourning should be in order to solve the problem they had created. No better example of the power of the media and the power of definition (the power to create) can be found. Duffy's questions became more and more aggressive and these aggressive questions (but not all the answers) were edited out for the showing. Wasn't Anna doing what Marc Lepine did by separating men and women? (So absurd and insulting a question! We hope to heal women; Lepine wanted to kill them. There seems to me to be a fundamental difference here.) Aren't your actions paralleling those of Lepine, Duffy asked. And so on. AFTERMATH The memorial service at the United Church was well attended by the people of Thunder Bay. Many Centre members attended, many with husband and boyfriends. It was a beautiful and dignified expression of grief. The next night about sixty women attended the candlelight vigil put on by the Woman's Centre. Because of the intense feeling of powerlessness and silencing some women had experienced in their past and others were experiencing in their present, it was decided to let women speak. However the facilitator, Gwen O'Reilly, cautioned that the negative publicity should be left aside and the participants should concentrate on the purpose' of the vigil. We sang. Candles were lit around the circle. One woman read a beautiful poem she had written for the occasion, another sang The Lord is My Shepherd, another read the names of the dead women. Like many others I sobbed. Letters to the editor were read. A collection for a memorial was started. We sang again - We Shall Overcome - which seemed to fit exac About three quarters through the ceremony a slight young woman slipped out of the door. I was in the last row and because the ceremony was emotional and many women were crying, I decided to go after her and make sure she was all right. I met her on the front steps. She said it was a moving ceremony and that she too had suffered from abuse. I asked her again is she was feeling all right and she said she was fine and that she was a reporter from the local paper. Then she walked away. Her article was misleading and negative. It was a collage of details (some of them false) which in sum made the ceremony seem to be both ludicrous and hostile. Reverend Prinselaar of Nipigon protested the Chronicle Journal's coverage. He wrote "the critique of the Northern Woman's Centre's decision to have a vigil....points to a situation far more grave than even the slaying of the 14 women in Montreal. Behind the article lies the assumption that men know better, even when it comes to the expression of grief. To make the participation of men an issue of 'justice' or 'rights' is a serious distortion of the issue". He went on to describe the newspaper's description of the service as lacking "in the most basic ethical standards". He concluded that "the patent male chauvinism, paternalism and need for power even in a situation as tragic as this one illustrates how deep the roots of violence go". The editor followed this letter with a long defence and stated the reporter at our vigil could not ask questions because she was "concerned for her safety". Sometimes the mind just boggles. Nevertheless, our lovely gentle vigil was misrepresented as some kind of belligerent rant against men. Fortunately, we received many supportive letters in the press. Also the local men's groups supported us by holding a supporting vigil outside the hall at the same time. As the days went on, a spate of articles appeared blaming feminists for 'using' the killings. For example, Jeanni Read in the Vancouver Province (Dec. 10) claims that, although feminists were "impeccably correct in their societal critique". we were "using" the dead women as symbols and so dehumanizing them. There seems to be little real logic in that stance. One also sees the constant attempt to differentiate between women and feminists. According to this definition, feminists are extremists while women, on the other hand, are not extremists because "they don't make an issue of things" ie they are silent. Melanie Randall (Globe and Mail, Dec. 12) related the mechanisms of reaction. She noted among other examples that as early as the day after the killings CFPL-TV (London) termed a rally at the university as a "feminist diatribe". She says conditions have been created in which it is now "inappropriate" or "extremist" to view the killings as an act of violence against women. "How can we possibly account for this chilling display of threatening and hateful behaviour ? Nevertheless Randall is optimistic and hopes that feminists, progressives and pro-feminist men can work together towards an equal, peaceful world. I hope she is right. Page 11 Northern Woman PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �BREAKING FREE: A PROPOSAL FOR CHANGE TO » in 82% of the cases, it is the woman who leaves the home; seldom does the batterer leave ABORIGINAL FAMILY VIOLENCE Ontario Native Women's Association has recently released the above report. The results of the study reveals the depth of violence and the serious deterioration of the embodiment of the Aboriginal Family over the years. In summary: >> eight out of every ten Aboriginal women have been abused or assaulted or can expect to be abused or assaulted >> children are also highly victimized at a rate of four out of every ten >> the batterer was identified as mostly the husband at an incidence rate of 84% >> there is a serious lack of specifically trained personnel and resources in the area of incest, sexual and physical abuse counselling, especially at the community level >> 82% of the respondents said that the abuser should be charged; only 4% said "no" to the charges being laid » there are no distinguishable, culturally-appropriate services in Ontario directed at the batterer and only a few native-run crisis shelters that exist for native women and their children. A quote at the beginning of the report speaks to all of us, in all cultures. "Woman is the centre of the wheel of life. She is the heartbeat of the people. She is not just in the home, but she is in the community, she is the Nation. One of our Grandmothers. The woman is the foundation on which Nations are built. She is the heart of her Nation. If that heart is weak the people are weak. If her heart is strong and her mind is clear then the Nation is strong and knows its purpose. The woman is the centre of everything." From The Woman's Part, Art Solomon, Ojibwa Elder. The report is available at: Ontario Native Women's Association 101-115 May Street North Thunder Bay, Ontario P7C 3N8 ######-#################################441411 A Tribute to Liz An inspiration of growth and maturity She will live in me for eternity Through her I will stand strong No longer will a man do me wrong Roses nodding in the breeze stemming her strength Her accomplishments we all know at great length The velvety red petals glimmering in her flame red hair The leaves growing out, the kindness she had to share Thorns revealing tribulations she had to fight She stands in a meadow, such a beautiful sight. Her stance, poise, smile, her face No one more beautiful could take her place In her last weeks, she had freedom, respect and pride Dignity was something she'd never hide In the wee hours of the night She bared her soul, I felt her fright There's peace in me knowing we're Determined to no longer live in fear. Rita Henley Elizabeth was a Northwestern woman who was killed by her husband in 1988. PDFNorthern compression, web WomanOCR, Page 12optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �BUSINESS AS USUAL At about the same time that the 14 women in Montreal were brutally killed because they were simply women, thousands of women, men and children were killed in Panama because they were simply 'the other'. Both terrible events should have brought Canada to a halt, but neither did. Business went on as usual. However, a shudder did pass over Canada because of the massacre in Montreal, while the deaths in Panama caused only a ripple. Why? And I ask this question to women in particular. Was it because we FELT more for the women in Montreal? Was it because it might be more dangerous to shudder about Panama, or have the M1 6s* done their job more effectively than we care to understand? (*television propaganda) Trying to come to grips with this question, I remember a paragraph in Maria Miles' book Patriarchy and Capital AccupulOon on a World Scale. She writes, "In the course of time it became clear to me that the confusions in the feminist movement world wide will continue unless we understand the women question in context of the global divisions of labour under the dictates of capital accumulation. The subordination and exploitation of women, nature AND THE COLONIES (my emphasis) are the pre-condition for the continuation of this model." So I wonder about this great lack of protest among the feminist movement on the subjugation of the colonies. Talking to a friend about this, I was told that a lot of women sincerely don't understand the connections. I would like to believe this is true, that it is this simple. I remember a Chilean woman telling me that after she had spoken to a group from Amnesty International she had a bizarre experience. She had explained very well the reasons why Allende was overthrown, and after a woman came up to her and said, "Never mind dear, now you live in Canada." So I've written a story. It sometimes works when facts and figures don't. . By Josie Wallenius THE THREE NIECES AND THE PLANATION OWNEF Once there was a street with many houses. Of the houses in the street, some looked drab, some even drabber, and some were being curtained off because it seemed as though the drab had got to them. However, the house I am going to tell of looked apparently not drab at all, or so it seemed to many. In the house apparently not drab at all, lived a white woman with a lot of children. Most of them were hers, daughters and sons, but some were nieces and nephews, children of uncles and aunts. In this house also lived adopted children from the drabber houses. The woman was the wife of the plaatitinOwnvagd.... 14he shirr of the houses his children. The a-a-opted children of course had different mothers, but they had the same father. The adopted children also knew about their father, at least most of them did, but they kept quiet about him for several reasons. However, the daughters and sons, nieces and nephews knew not about their father, and they knew not for an important reason. More of that later. This house was kept apparently not drab by the Plantation Owner because this house above all was where he wanted to keep some semblance of order. It was his home after all, and he came home nights, though very late, usually when his children were in bed. The wife very cleverly kept this semblance of order because of course it was in her interests too, this semblance of order. Her main ploy to keep this order was to put Ml6s in all the rooms of the children for them to watch when they weren't playing. Well, that was a very clever ruse too. From infancy her children were taught to feel that play was work, even struggling work, and at that time, if anybody had told them their work was really play, that anybody would have had a punch in the face. Now, the big reason that the children of the apparently drab house were forced to work so hard at play and watch the M16s was that they were to be kept too busy to think. Above all, to be kept too busy to wonder what there ancestry was, and who their immediate father was. Both of these questions were questions never, never to be asked, because if asked, it would be highly dangerous to the Plantation Owner. .t# V49. Aelts1 t2v,s9 uneasy In the hbuse were, 'one, the daughters and nieces, and two, the adopted children. At that time, not realizing they had all things in common, they got uneasy for different reasons. The adopted children still had this sneaky love for the house where they had been born, even if it had been centuries ago, and watched the goings on in the drabber houses with sinking hearts. The daughters and nieces were uneasy for a different reason. Something was going on in their own house. It was becoming clear to the daughters and the nieces that their mother favoured the sons and nephews, and what was worse that the sons and nephews seemed to drink this favour up without a qualm. As they began to get more and more fed up at this state of affairs, they felt something curious stir in their bones, as though there were memories actually in their legs as well as their heads, and they began to speak up. The sons and nephews and the mother got frightened and one day a son killed a daughter because he was so terrified of what the daughters and nieces were becoming and going back to. Northern Woman PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Page 13 �Now, coincidentally or not (and you all know about coincidences) the same night the daughter was killed, the Plantation Owner visited the mother. He was very busy at this time and only had time for fleeting visits. The daughters saw him because they were up late grieving for their sister. Usually they were too exhausted to be up late; exhausted from their forced play, or in front of their M1 6s or sitting haunted-like at meetings wondering why things were getting worse, and wondering why they felt like a bunch of cells that would disintegrate if they STOPPED. Of course the daughters and nieces KNEW about the Plantation Owner, but they had no idea he had any relationship with their mother. Actually, they quite liked their mother, give or take a Trade Deal or so, because she had this uncanny knack of keeping the house apparently not drab. However, the memories were stirring in their bones as I said, and the next day three Df the sisters decided to go and ask their mother who the Plantation Owner was to HER. The nexrday the three sisters were not around. They had disappeared, something that up till now had only happened in the drabber houses as far as the sisters and nieces knew, though of course that was a mistaken idea as the Black Panthers and AIM could have told them. The rest of the daughters and nieces noticed these missings and because these memories stirring were making them fearfully strong they sent a delegation of two daughters and two nieces to the mother. "Where are our sisters," they enquired, more coldly than their mother had ever heard them speak before. The mother was alarmed, she knew the old heritage of the young women and she became really terrified that they would ask now about their father, so she said, "Your sisters were terrorists and narco guerrillas, and of course communists, and this house does not need them any more than those houses out there", and she gestured out of the window with her jewelled fingers to the drabby houses. She thought that that would do the trick, as these children, like all of her children, had been brought up with the M1 6s. However, bone memories are bone memories and bone memories always know a lie, so the daughters and the nieces took a day off from their struggling play and went to visit an adopted son in his room. He was in his room because adopted children had difficulty in this house even getting paid play. They went to his room where he was lying on his bed and reflecting, and said to him, "Who exactly IS the Plantation Owner?" He answered, "he is all of our father." That night all of the nieces and daughters went into a room to plot. They argued. The M1 6s had done such a good job they couldn't come to any consensus at all. So they decided to keep watch and get more proof. On the next full moon, three nieces, bold young women, stayed up late while the rest of the family were lulling in front of the M1 6s. They hid behind the back door and peeked out of the back window. They heard a whir and a Huey helicopter helped the Plantation Owner to the ground with great reverence. He was wearing a pinstripe suit with gold fountain pens sticking from all of his pockets. He was very fat. He walked around to the front of the house to the front door. He was very bold, very confident. One of the sons answered the door. The nieces could see all this down the long corridor. They saw the Plantation Owner start up the back stairs. They heard his steps go straight and sure to their mothers bedroom which was right above the back door where they were hiding and they heard the bed begin to creak. It went on creaking for a long time. The nieces threw up on the carpet, they just couldn't help it, and what's a bit of sick after all. The three nieces knew they could no longer pretend to not know what they knew, so they went to report to the other nieces and daughters. This time there was no disagreement. They waited till the nex full moon, like their great grandmothers used to do because this had always been the best time and there was too much at stake here and they had no intention of being burnt a it. The same three nieces went because that had heard the bed creak and felt the betrayal more keenly. This time they waited behind the front door. The wife was waiting upstairs, they would deal with her later. They heard the whir of the helicopter. They waited. They heard the marines laughing. They heard the ponderous unmistakable steps of the Plantation Owner. He knocked. They opened the door, and the smell of blood from the drabby ho4.124N.eded him as he walked in. The nieces stepped forward, their honed daggers lifted high, their mind: and bodies at last in perfect harmony. Women hone your daggers, Hone them on a stone, The Stone that hones the daggers, Is knowledge. Subscribe to: Zeta Magazine 150 West Canton Street Boston, MA 02118 USA In These Times 1912 Debs Avenue Mt. Morris, IL 61054 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 14 �ATTEMPTS TO SILENCE The Conservative government has spent $11 million on the Goods and Services Tax (a dangerous tax that is opposed by 80% of Canadians). Currently, $14 million is being spent to advertise the GST. In 1990/91 the government had increased CSIS's budget by,almost $33 million and has allotted $2.5 million for a guided missile project. As well, $1.5 million has been provided in this year's budget for the Senate to build new committee rooms. Yet, according to this Conservative government, they must cut $1.6 million from women's programs "to reduce the deficit". Quite frankly, boys, we do not believe you. Rather, we believe, this particular budget cut is clearly designed to silence our voices. Voices raised in criticism of the patriarchal system that oppresses women, that dismisses women's needs, that strives to ensure the continued subjugation of women. 80 women's centres across the country had their funding cut 100%. Another focus of federal grant slashing, which we insist was deliberately chosen, was the elimination of grants to three outstanding Canadian feminist periodicals. Healthsharing, Canadian Women's Studies/Les Cashiers de la Femme Resources for Feminist Research/Documentation sur la recherche feministe. Cut 100%. (a lead up perhaps --ta_the,r4LwhiclaAtvilLdestroy the' majority of Canadian book and magazine publishing see NWJ Vol 12 #2. The only magazine of its kind, Healthsharing gives voice to women's health issues, empowers women to reclaim control of their health, their bodies, their lives. RFR/DRF - an important resource for academics, students and general readers alike, providing comprehensive information on new research, new insights, on the gamut of feminist issues. And Canadian Women's Studies - an important magazine of great depth and quality. Published quarterly, each theme issue includes analysis, herstory, resources and literary work. A recent Native Women issue was wonderful and with many Northern Ontario Native women contributing has particular meaning for us. The federal grant cuts place these magazines in a serious dilemma. It is our understanding that each of these vital publications is determined to survive. But we know the scenario they face. In order to maintain staff, office and quality of their production, new monies must be found. So the energy is diverted to fundraising. Diverted from the planning, the analysis, the writing! (How adroit our governments are in diverting us from the essential task at hand.) We say to our sister magazines WE NEED YOU TO SURVIVE. Do what you must. If you have to revert to a tabloid, put together in someone's basement - do so. But keep our VOICES ALIVE! Northwestern Ontario women's groups, while not amongst those whose funding was totally abolished will also be hurt. Decade Council, Regional Day Care Committee and local women's organizations, which have received their prime funding from Secretary of State women's programs, all experienced grant reductions of 15 - 25% in 1989 and fear further reductions again this year. This erosion of funding forces groups into the merry-go-round of the "grants game" with other funding sources, and again diverts us from our real work. That the government is determined to silence voices of its critics is further evidenced with the serious slashing of funds to Native groups. We are appalled that the Conservatives eliminated the Native Communications Program (NCP). We are particularly distressed about the implications these cuts have for Wawatay. a O O HEALTHSHARING Wawatay Native Communications Society not only is an essential service in Northwestern Ontario, but is a nationally respected communications network. The loss of the NCP not only will silence Native VOICE, but according to Wawatay's executive director Lawrence Martin the elimination of Wawatay's lifesaving trail ("bush") radio service also threatens lives. There is documented evidence that the trail radio program does save lives. To sever this life-saving program is absolutely reprehensible. Northwestern Ontario will suffer from the present cuts to Secretary of State programs - in the case of the NCP disproportionately so. But behind our worry for the effects of these budget eliminations, reductions, lurks an even greater concern. There is cause to fear that the Conservative agenda is calling for the complete dismantlement of the department of Secretary of State. It is, of course, the Secretary of State department that supports disadvantaged groups. Are we being too cynical when we suggest that the Conservative government is quite prepared to abandon any commitment to women, to Natives, to disabled people, to ethnic groups? We think not. But, we are here to tell you, boys, WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><»<><><><><><><><>><><><><><><> tNo oV't OM A new decade to decide through: c"?' to c919* N'cied ccosl vcotccs how we go on now must be better thought out, not fought out or bought out; with all the intuition and wisdom we have left out of our visions for so long. Ph`2 Ysicall because tit;a12,1 St bee ii7ove/17e4 ekeve that I feel by this ?kedge 0. rCcil, el22boni,,`°0'saYihg to,`,"e eco. :;4---cietit 12 '0122e/7R' 17;;;Ivehav thihgs7 ;212gerotisof th Ives arja lane Coa in hisi,ls t'ePaz4rch 0 chile', - r as 41 idea ci/ atki e com 112sof othe (1979) PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Second Class Mall Registration Na. 5697 MAIL TO: RETURN TO: THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. BOX 144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 Return Postage Guaranteed Don't forget to renew your SUBSCRIPTION NAME ADDRESS POSTAL CODE $ 6.00 Institutional $12.00 Individual NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4V5 Nor-1-hern Woman Tournat PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 12 No 3 Description An account of the resource Vol. 12, No. 3 (March 1990) Title: Northern Woman Journal: Reflecting, Recollecting, Re-collect-ing Topics include: Montreal massacre Violence against women Safe mourning Women’s healing Sexism Racism Women-only vigil Thunder Bay Hostility towards feminism Women’s pain Women’s safety Media gaslighting Backlash towards feminist analyses of the Montreal Massacre Aboriginal family violence Tribute to Liz (killed by her husband 1988) Violence against women and children in Panama Short stories Government funding cutbacks to services for women Aftermath of the Montreal massacre Emotional trauma Collective trauma Authors/contributors: Ola Broumas Rita Henley Josie Wallenius Arja Lane Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2821/1990_Vol_12_No_4.pdf feffe4b63021e9bf57d9872ad12f5934 PDF Text Text $1.75 rn Woman 4401011111lial July 1990 Volume 12 No. 4 Thunder Bay, Ontario PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Editorial // ////, / / / / / ,, .,, .4/W/he AV/14,14/h44/46/ Canadian women's freedom was short-lived. The dignity afforded women when the Supreme Court of Canada overturned the abortion legislation (January 1988) is again denied with the May 29, 1990 passing of Bill C43, which re-criminalizes abortion. Bill C-43 amends the Criminal Code to permit an abortion only if a doctor determines that continuing the pregnancy would threaten the woman's physical, mental or psychological health. If an abortion is deemed illegal, both the woman and the doctor will face penalties of up to two years' imprisonment. The supporters of Bill C-43 declare this law is an acceptable "compromise". While Bill C-43 does not become law until passed by the Senate (expected this fall) its impact is already felt. Four doctors staffing an abortion clinic at a Manitoba hospital have stopped performing abortions, forcing the clinic to cut back services. Doctors at major hospital abortion services in Alberta and Nova Scotia have said they will stop doing abortions when the law is passed. Closer to home we learn that Sault Ste. Marie doctors will no longer perform abortions except under "exceptional and lifethreatening situations". In a national survey the Canadian Medical Association found that half the doctors responding would stop performing abortions if the new law came into effect. Doctors appear to be succumbing to threats; by the anti-choice lobby which have announced that they will take every opportunity to lay charges against doctors who perform abortions. In May a sixteen year old Ontario woman was rushed to hospital following a botched "kitchen-table" abortion. '4(,40W;r2,7-MSVari,PSLAWaraVara, In June a twenty year old Toronto woman bled to death as a result of a self-induced abortion. How many Canadian women must die in the name of political compromise? Women who need an abortion will have an abortion. It is society's responsibility to ensure that women have access to safe, legal abortions. Should Bill C-43 be passed by the Senate the abortion "issue" will return to many more years of legal battles, court challenges. Its eventual fate will be decided by the Supreme Court. In the meantime Canadian women live with the knowledge that our government considers women less than fully human; considers women expendable; believes women must be denied the right to selfdetermination; is willing to risk women's lives. We must not tolerate such contempt. 4?,<MM-a4K0.4SWWW.ZAKASWA 1641)*,Wwipw-cipw-ripWaWAIOAWOAW4wWw-OminteiAtegie-4T2M..,ACWwW/AWWiAtrOAttie4WAi CANADA $$$$$$$$$$$$$NEEDED$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technoiogiest. Commission Royale sur les nouvelles techniques de reproduction PUBLIC NOTICE Does the heading look familiar? Indeed, it has appeared over our 16 year herstory. With increased printing cost, federal government intentions to reduce postal subsidies, and the additional threat of the GST, the Northern Woman Journal finds herself in the not unfamiliar situation of imminent poverty. Our readers have always rallied to our need and we are sure you will again. While cash donations are always welcome, the best help you can provide is encouraging two (or three or four or five) of your friends, neighbours, colleagues to subscribe to NWJ. If we doubled our subscriptions we'd have no financial woes. If we tripled our subscriptions we could even invest in new technology and supplies that would visually improve our paper. We can provide sample copies of the Journal for you to give as a subscribing incentive (pick these up at the Northern Women's Bookstore or write us at Box 144, P7C 4V5). We would welcome your suggestions for increasing Journal sales/subscriptions and will be grateful for any help you can give. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ The Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies has been established by the Government of Canada with a man- date to inquire into and report on current and potential medical and scientific developments related to new reproductive technologies, considering in particular their social, ethical, health, research, legal and economic implications and the public interest, recommending what policies and safeguards should be applied' Throughout the next year, the Commission will be conducting an extensive public consultation program to hear the views and experiences of Canoe ans from all walks of life. Public hearings will be held across Canada beginning in September 1990. To be invited to appear, a group or individual must submit a short brief or position paper by July 31, t990. Consultative meetings on specific issues are being organized tc provide those with a specific interest in one or more areas involving the new reproductive technologies to share their views on the development, impact and implications of new reproduc- tive technologies. Individual sessions can be arranged with those wishing to relate a personal experience, relevant to our mandate, in a private setting. The Commission is particularly interested in hearing a full range of views on the following issues: the implications of new reproductive technologies for womenS reproductive health and well-being; the causes, treatment and prevention of male and female infertility; all new reproductive technologies, including reversals of sterilization procedures, artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, embryo transfers, prenatal screening anddiagnostic techniques, genetic manipulation and therapeutic interventions to correct genetic anomalies. sex selection techniaties, embryo experimentation and fetal tissue transplants; social and legal arrangements, such as surrogate childbearing, judicial interventions curing gestation and birth, and ownership of ova, sperm, embryos and fetal tissue; the status and rights of people using or contributing to reproductive services such as access to procedures, rights to parenthood and informed consent; and the economic ramifications of these technologies, such as the commercial marketing of ova, sperm and embryos and the application of patent law and the funding of research and procedures including infertility treatment. - . You are encouraged to discuss these issues from a social, ethical, health, research, legal and economic perspective. Your views and experiences are important! $$$$$$$$$$$$$NEEDED$$$$$$$$$$$$$ To find out more about the Royal Commission and how you can participate, call our toll -free information line: 1-800-668-7060, or wnte; ROYAL COMMISSION ON NEW REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES P.O. Box 1566, Station "SOttawa, ON KIP 5R5 PDF compression, OCR, 2 web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page �LETTERS Dear Northern Woman: I have just read your March issue and wish to commend you for a terrific publication. More importantly, I wish to thank you for the sensitivity with which you dealt with the Montreal massacre, and as painful as it was, for helping me reflect and recollect... I began my job with ASWAC on December 4, 1989; two days later fourteen women were murdered in Montreal. My daughters, 18 and 20, were frantic that it would happen to me because of my virtually instant feminist visibility in the community. I was frantic because what we as women know, is possible and actually happened, and that none of us are ever really safe. I will never forget those fourteen young women, and I trust and hope that none of us do; just as we cannot forget those of us who die little deaths daily. In love, sisterhood and woman power. Noreen Bell Project Coordinator 1. To help to "demystify" the trades for women...this is where some women are working and this is what they do in their job. 2. To help to dispel the myths surrounding the trades and women...re: physical strength; combining work and family...their own view of themselves. 3. To uncover benefits of a non-traditional skilled trade as a career option for Northern Ontario women...money, mobility, job satisfaction. This bilingual journal (English/French) will be a very visual rather than print booklet. It is our belief that pictures convey a thousand words, so we hope to receive a wide variety of shots of the women at work, with their families and friends. The Kenora Office of the Women's Access to Apprenticeship Training will be coordinating all aspects of the project. However, the publication of the journal will be a cooperative effort with the five other Northern Ontario Access Coordinators. There are Coordinators in Sudbury, Timmins aria address and relevant particulars. Thank you for your time, cooperation and support. Sincerely, Marion MacAdam Coordinator Women's Apprenticeship Plan Box 722 Kenora, Ontario P9N 4B5 Dear Northern Woman Journal: WOMEN CAN GET AIDS is a new poster produced by the AIDS Committee of Thunder Bay. This poster is available free of charge to all health care professionals, health organizations and all agencies. Distribution is already underway, and the WOMEN CAN GET AIDS poster has been well received in the community. To receive the WOMEN CAN GET AIDS poster contact Eileen Parker, Communications Coordinator at 345-1516. VVVVVVVVVVV VVV VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV un Bay. Dear Northern Woman Journal: We have received confirmation that our funding proposal for a Northern Ontario photojournal for and about women in Non-Traditional Skilled Trades, titles "FREE TO BE ME", has been approved by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines. The other funding agency, the Ontario Women's Directorate will be letting us know if they shall be contributing dollars shortly. In the meantime, we wish to let everyone know what we are trying to do and initiate the preliminary work to ensure that although we are starting the project a bit late, we will be able to successfully complete the journal close on schedule. We wish to photograph Northern Ontario women: English, French, native and non-native currently working in non-traditional trades (all trades except hairdressers). The women can be qualified tradespeople or apprentices or women considered role - models in that they have successfully broken into what was considered traditionally men's work. The purpose of the photojournal is: Our women's access to Apprenticeship Project's mandate is to provide public information and education about the skilled trades. All coordinators locate and support women involved in a non-traditional occupation and/or trade. Therefore an infrastructure exists throughout the North for the collection and compilation of these photographs of women and the women's accompanying descriptions of their work At the back of the journal will be a resource list of where to go for further information on training; job opportunities bridging programs and organizations designed to help women explore career options. To make this photojournal the best it can possibly be, we need your cooperation and support. We would like to know what training programs or assistance you know of for women interested in a nontraditional job. Please make your comments in point form as space will be at a premium in this journal. If you know of potential women for our photojournal please contact the Access Coordinator in you area or mail me this woman's name, HERSTORY NOTE "Never retract, never explain, never apologize. Get the thing done and let them howl ". Nellie McLung, 1873-1951, Canadian writer, speaker, teacher, suffragette. Elected to Manitoba legislature 1921. ************************* ************************* ************************* ************************* ,page. Northern Woman PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �UNTITLED by Josie Wallenius At the Journal office this month we talked again about how writing helps to keep one sane. So I said I would write a piece about asking women to submit to the Journal or write letters in response to articles and editorials. Now, before I go further I must recount an experience I had in Grand Marie yesterday. I met up with a women called Chris Gedarburg from the U.S. who is a professional performing artist. She does one woman plays. The plays are about women in the past, in the U.S. and in Europe and with this work she is showing women who they are ie. they were strong, strong women. Now Chris and I are doing a workshop in Minneapolis in June, and after talking only for a few minutes in Grand Marie, we decided to call the workshop, "The Healer and the Heritic" because it was so obvious that our methods were different, in fact we were polarised, and potentially confrontational. Though I myself need healing to keep on, basically I feel that Chris' position, which is to heal women to strength and then to action is flawed but there are so many flawed 'new agers' around who will not ever, ever begin to take social action, that it undermines her theory. As I said bluntly, "You get healed, then what, you feel better, your partner feels better, your work friends feel better, but what about the woman Tonita in El Salvador whose only healing comes with the oblivion of death? My position was that if one is a heritic, one heals oneself in a way, because at least you spit out the poison of the lies and you really can't heal over poison. She said, "But then you lose your audience, they will dislike you." I said, "I thought we were talking about healing, not liking." She laughed. We were both looking forward to this workshop I can tell you. So back here to this appeal to women to write in, use another name if what you are thinking is SO TERRIBLE that you think people will shun you in the streets for saying it. (Actually you would probably get a great hug for naming what we are all thinking beneath our pleasantries and back rubbings.) So I'll start the ball rolling with a heritical letter, bearing in mind that if another heritical woman reads it and thinks it's a crock of shit she will not mutter behind my back but say, "Josie, that was a crock of when she returned she found the children decapitated and the decapitated heads had bee placed in front of each torso with the hands placed on top of the decapitated heads, onl the hands of the youngest had been too short so they had been nailed in place. And this was done by the U.S. trained Salvadoran Army' Atlacatl Battalion. I don't know what to say any more to women I love deeply who have babies who ar an extension of the love I feel for them, when I read that the children in Honduras are growing up 2 cm smaller than their parents. shit". Dear Northern Woman Journal, We've got about 10 years left and I'm tired of people when it's unseasonally hot saying, "Oh, isn't it a lovely day". I'm tired of answering, "Well, I'm a bit worried, I think it's the ozone layer". I'm tired of my lack of guts in not answering, "Bull shit it is a lovely day, the evil profit hungry Godfathers don't give aflyingfuckingthought about us gasping and croaking in ten years time, and I'm telling you next time one of THEM visits town I think we should go and transport him back on his jet and tell the pilot to drop him off at the White House to tell George we are not impressed with pictures of him and Barbara all surrounded with their gleaming grandchildren, because he does not care for children, even his own, and we do, even if they are not our own. Like we care for the aforementioned Tonita and her children, because we heard that two years ago Tonita left her three children in the care of her mother while she took her husband his lunch, and So write women, write, tell me Honduran babies have nothing to do with you and tell me to go throw myself in Lake Superior before it warms up AT ALL, but please don't tell me you feel helpless. Tonita doesn't feel helpless, she's fighting. Even write to tell me gently it's all a lost cause and that really everybody knows it and is just trying ti make the last years as good a possible. Just say it, write it, and it doesn't have to be about ANYTHING of the above, was just giving my example. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< 40.41) 144 Lakehead University A Northern Vision WOMEN'S STUDIES PROGRAM CO-ORDINATOR/SESSIONAL LECTURER Lakehead University is initiating Interdisciplinary Women's Studies an Program The University is beginning 1990. seeking a part-time Co-ordinator/Sessional Lecturer to teach the core course "Introduction to Women's Studies" and to co-ordinate program development and activities. 1 September Preferably, the incumbent will have a minimum_ of a doctorate, teaching experience and an interest and experience in women's studies. Applicants are requested to submit a resume with the names of three references by 20 July 1990 to Dr. J.H.M. Whitfield Dean of Arts and Science Lakehead University THUNDER BAY, Ontario P7B 5E1 AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Ntart4ern 14/0111,114 �FEMINISTS IN SPIRITED RESISTANCE ACROSS THE COUNTRY by Nancy Pollak Reprinted with permission from "Kinesis" The spring of 1990 will be remembered as the season when feminists not only raised a huge public cry against funding cuts to the Secretary of State's Women's Program, but managed to keep alive, at least temporarily, many of the centres and groups most badly stung by the cuts. The season isn't over. As Kinesis goes to press*, women's groups across the country are forging a proposal for the Secretary of State Gerry Weiner, a proposal which will formalize demands and conditions for the reinstatement of core funding-and for the preservation of the Women's Program itself. Weiner is expecting a proposal, although he is not expected to readily embrace the contents. And thereby hangs a tale... Occupied By Occupations, etc The $1.6 million cut to the Women's Program in the February budget was most damaging to Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Yukon and British Columbia, where almost 80 women's centres lost all their operational money. In Quebec, 39 centres lost their federal core grant and were forced to fall back on much smaller provincial grants. Four national women's organization (including three feminist periodicals) lost 100 percent of their funding, and national advocacy and education groups were dealt 15 or 20 percent cuts. The fight was on. Women's groups launched full-scale letter writing campaigns, visited cabinet ministers at their offices, protested at their speaking engagements (notable Mary Collins, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women), held symbolic bake-sales atgovernment offices, and in various other public and notso-public ways requested that Gerry Weiner meet with the groups whose funding he had cut without warning. Public support for women's centres was widespread and immediate. Groups received donations and offers of support, and their demonstrations were wellattended--women and men are clearly angry about these cuts. With prompting from feminists, mainstream media had no difficulty presenting a sympathetic portrait of the local women's centre, struggling to survive, Editorial writers grasped that the funding cuts were at least impolite, and probably contrary to the government's stated support for women's rights. The Progressive Conservatives in Ottawa had a harder time getting the picture. Despite formal requests from affected groups, Weiner made no move to meet with women. In the Yukon, the Victoria Faulkner Women's Centre formed a coalition with Native political, communication and social organizations also cut by the Secretary of State (SecState). The Yukon Coalition Against the Budget, with major community support, took out full-page ads protesting the cuts on March 8 (IWD) and again on March 23rd. On March 21 in Montreal, 75 women attempted to enter the SecState offices but were refused entrance to the elevators by security guards. During the noisy, allafternoon demo, they faxed their demand to Weiner: meet with us. The following day, he invited them to an April 9 meeting in Ottawa. It took him a little longer to respond elsewhere. Women in St. John's, Newfoundland were the first to stage a full-fledged occupation of a SecState office. On March 26, 60 women announced "the newest women's centre in Canada," and set about using SecState's telephones and fax machine to get what they came for: a meeting with Weiner to discuss full reinstatement of core funding. Over 400 women, including elected NDP and Tory politicians, participated in the week-long occupation; a unanimous motion of support passed in the House of Assembly; a local fish and chips joint delivered lunch for 50--and Gerry Weiner sent an official to discuss project funding. We're Not Just Projecting Luring women's groups with offers of short-term project funding has been the government's standard strategy since the cuts were announced. Here's how it goes. Imagine you are the government. Your first move is to hammer home that core funding is gone for good--blame it on the deficit. Then say women's centres are a provincial responsibility anyway because they're so service-oriented. Second, emphasize how much project funding is available. In the western region, stress how it's been increased--but don't explain that that's only because so much core funding was cut. Write letters to the editor about all the project money. Third, phone up women's centres on the brink of closure and say they can have project money in a matter of days--it's called "fast tracking." Mention that the centres can use the money for operational expenses if they like (wink wink, nudge nudge). Add that there is money for winding-down expenses -Tray-t5T-r-tire-phot settle up with the landlord, sleep tight. Finally, watch in consternation as groups across the country turn down your proposal because they have more political sense and solidarity with each other than to accept an offer of perpetual instability. Newfoundland women rejected the project funding offer by Weiner's official in late March, reiterated their demand for full funding and set an inspired example for the rest of the country. The centre in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia took the next step, deferring a project grant for $46,000. National groups, other Nova Scotia and Quebec PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION Nbrthern PDFCompressor WOEW-IPagbr'S*. �women's centres, and the BC and Yukon Association of Women's Centre followed suit, and a gradual boycott of project funds grew. Coast to Coast Despite poor national press coverage of the Newfoundland occupation, women across Canada were aware of the events in St. John's and prepared to show their support. On the first Monday (March 26), women in Toronto attempted to enter SecState offices and were met by closed doors and over twenty police officers. Four women were gently hauled away. In Vancouver, a symbolic sit-in took place in the SecState vestibule. As the week wore on and the Newfoundland occupiers showed no sign of giving up on their major demand, Vancouver women made plans to mirror the Atlantic action with a little of the Pacific kind. Friday March 30: Within an hour of occupying the 12th floor Vancouver offices of SecState, 20 or so British Columbian women learned the police had arrived in St. John's with a new offer: leave or be charged with mischief. A few hours earlier, women in Halifax had met an instantaneous police response when they had attempted to enter government offices. The Tories, never enthus'iastic about the idea of talking with women, were now drawn to the idea of arresting them. The women in Halifax and St. John's were "escorted" from the offices by the police and no charges were laid. Back at the women's centre in St. John's, telephone contact was made with the Vancouver occupiers and 40 weary but elated Newfoundlanders sang solidarity songs over the speaker phone to their west coast sisters who, shortly afterwards, noticed the arrival of the police. The Vancouver occupiers made the same demand as other groups: full reinstatement of funding to the Women's Program and a meeting with Weiner. As they waited for a reply to the faxed demand, the women asked SecState to call off the police while negotiations were taking place. The answer came near midnight. Wendy Carter, Regional Director of SecState, reminded women of the easy availability of project funding. There would be no discussion of other matters except during regular office hours and, because there were no negotiations, the police would not be called off. By midnight, under a threat of mischief charge, Vancouver women were escorted from the building by police. The following Monday, the St. John's office was revisited by protesters, still seeking a meeting with Weiner. Twenty women and two men were arrested and charged with mischief. The scene repeated itself in Vancouver on April 5. With a spirited demonstration taking place below, twelve women attempted to enter the SecState offices to deliver another letter to Weiner. Met by locked glass doors and security guards, the women slipped their letter to director Carter and sat down to a wait Weiner's reply. His reply was another letter. Weiner would not reinstate funding, would not meet with women in BC, but would invite a designated representative to meet with him in Ottawa on April 11. Not satisfied, the women refused to leave. By dinner time, they were arrested for the steppedup offence of "assault by trespass" and carted off in a police wagon. Charges have not been laid. Meet Me in Ottawa, Meet Me in Montreal Across the country, special security guards were posted to protect government offices from rampaging females--the kind who want to talk to ministers of the crown. The federal NDP Women's Critic Dawn Black told parliament she had calculated the government would spend about $560,000 on security fees over three months--almost a third of the budget cut. MIL HONK iW' FOR While the public protest were going on national organization such as the National Action Committee on the Status of Wbmen (NAC), ti Canadian Congress for Learnir Opportunities for Women (CCLOW), and "Healthsharing" also tried to set up a meetir with Weiner to specifically discuss cuts to their operations. While women's centres hz captured the public and media's attention, the advocacy, research and publication groups hit by thE budget hadn't fared as well. Yet the cuts they sustained (between 30 and 100 percent J two years) are considered a strong indication of how far the Tories may go in completely dismantling the Women's Program. As Kinesis goes to press national organizations are still awaiting confirmation c meeting times with Weiner, w1 refused a request to meet wit them collectively. But he did meet with thE women's centres. Bowing to public pressure, Weiner met c April 9 in Ottawa with Urgenc Secretariat d'Etat, the QuebE women's centre ad-hoc coalition, and again on April 11 in Montreal with invited representatives from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, BC and the Yukon. The meetings were as different as cheese and chalk--or were they? Weiner did most of the talking after receiving the Quebec women's demand for ful reinstatement of funding. He turned them down flat, suggesting instead that they look to grants from the SecState programs for "doubly disadvantages women"--the government's term for women c colour, Aboriginal women and women with disabilities. The Quebec women left the meeting disappointed and angry at sue an obvious attempt to play women off against each other. The April 11 meeting unfolded differently. The 7 anglophone representatives ha been selected by Judy Wright, director of the Women's Program. The night of the 10th, Wright and Danielle Remillard, Weiner's representative, encouraged th women to consider making the minister a proposal, rather than a direct demand for reinstatement. They also insisted that only women's centre funding could be discussed, saying that separate negotiations were taking place with the nationa organizations despite the fac that no such meetings had bee held. CENTRt4ES And the women did come up with a proposal for Weiner fund women's centres at 198889 levels for two more years during which time the federal government would negotiate a provincial/territorial take over of women centre funding. NNESIS may 90 continued pg 14 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor -.46ithei.W.Voittalipacie 6 �REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE....REDEFINE by Nancy Lyons When I first heard of the 3 R's I had a difficult time accepting the fact that our environment was being destroyed. Day by day the realization set in and I learned how selfish I was being to be robbing 'Mother Earth' of her riches. It seemed so reasonable to blame others for this disastrous situation that exists in our society. Though others may be more abusive to 'Her' than I, I failed to accept the fact that I too was contributing to this disastrous situation. REDEFINE. I looked at my surroundings, and asked the simple question, "What can I do to help repair the damage?". I then began to search for answers to help create a change. What I soon discovered was not only would I be contributing to a change in our environment, I would also be changing the way I live. REDEFINE. I began to throw away old habits I had previously accepted as 'convenience' in this throwaway society. Today, I reuse my grocery bags, attempt to purchase products without excess packaging (although I feel that manufacturers could help out in this area), save my tin cans, and glass jars. I built a bigger compost (I was surprised to learn that I could dump my leftover water from boiling vegetables in the compost rather than in the sink). I now turn off the tap when I brush my teeth, and 'flush' only when necessary. I also discovered I get just as clean with a quick shower as I do if I take a long one. I use refillable bottles to purchase my environmentally safe soaps and detergents. I use vinegar and baking soda to clean, and discovered they work. I also spread the word that cloth diapers are as convenient as 'disposables', given the benefits to the environment. REDEFINE. I still catch myself throwing things like glass away, only to dig it out of the garbage, and put it down in the basement in a box with 'Blue' written on it. I'm waiting for the day when it's discovered that its cheaper to put blue boxes on the street than it is to pay for irreparable damages to the environment. I am still in the 'Redefine' stage of awareness and action, and open to any suggestions I may receive. For today, I stand tall on my compost heap, knowing that I am helping to REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE our environment. I am optimistic!! ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< WOMAN PLAN THUNDER BAY by Lorilee Wright Women surveyed in 1989 told the Northern Women's Centre that one of its major roles should be empowering local women around local issues to make local change. That same survey also showed us that while there are many women in Thunder Bay with valuable expertise in diverse areas, there has been little integration. Of course, with funding being what it is, the immediate response was, "We'll hold a Conference!" So plans are being made. The first Woman Plan Thunder Bay Conference is set for November 16-18. Women involved in planning for this Conference are insisting that the planning process will be as important as, if not more important than the Conference itself. This process will hopefully create a network in which local women can and will become involved in the decision- making structures that affect them. Women are becoming involved. We have long recognized that women meeting women to discuss issues is the process by which women will end their isolation and marginalization in society. For years women have lobbied consistently for programs, policies and legislation that would make their lives and the lives of their children safer, more comfortable, less restrictive and less stressful. Woman Plan Thunder Bay will continue and expand that effort purely on a local basis. Our first Committee workshop defined some broad objectives for Woman Plan Thunder Bay: CONNECTING and networking with women and women's organizations, and combining resources in order to decrease alienation. EMPOWERING women by developing decision-making skills, assertiveness, selfknowledge, lobbying skills, land by using women's experience as the basis for action and re-evaluation. DEMYSTIFYING established institutions (media, financial, medical, governmental, etc), and examining our internalized racism, sexism, classism and our own stereotyped perceptions. ACTION around issues identified by community women in group consultation and at the Conference. Our greatest challenge in all this will be in changing attitudes - attitudes within the power structures and attitudes of women themselves. If you want to become involved in the Conference, or in the planning process call Lorilee at 345-7802. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor ..14Pr.th8F11..11.3FWY, ,.Page 7 �by arja lane so we struggle to get past the bull-poop the power-plays the guilt-trips to where life is true to the living where what you want isn't a contest where being wrong isn't a life- sentence OLD HABITS where love is more than a four letter word based on ifs where humanity extends past man-made barriers by Gert Beadle where we strive I can't believe after all this time I still wake up expecting to hear someone in the kitchen lighting the fire releasing a rolling man fart as a call for my rising whether it is my father or the one who came after my reflexes are still tuned to proving my willingness to take instruction. Half out of the bed the reality of my enfranchised position as a free woman strikes deep into my consciousness I turn the pillow over to the cool side and go back to sleep. to revive the basics of living where giving balances out the taking so we'll survive until the last bull-pooping power-playing guilt-tripper ceases to be CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Les Editions Comrnuniqu'Elles 3585, rue StUttein Siteg Monti* Ouibsc, Canada HSOC TEL: (514) 844-1751; Fats (514) 842-1057 Call for Submissions Canadian Women and ALS Les Editions Communiqu'Elles, a Montreal-based feminist publishing house. is now seeking submissions for an anthology to be entitled Candies Women and AIDS: Beyond the Statistics. We will consider scholarly articles, research papers, ficdon, poetry. personal testknonies and interviews from HIV-positive women and women with AIDS, caregivers, relatives. lovers and relatives of HIV-positive women and women with AIDS, researchers, social scientists, sex workers and activists. The Book will be divided into sections on research. reflecdon and action. Topics can include but are not limited to: . The politics of women and AIDS . Differences between AIDS in women and in men . Women, AIDS and IV drug use . Living with AIDS . Ethical issues involving AIDS in women . Poverty: the economic effects at AIDS . Safe sex for heterosexual and bisexual women and lesbians . Caregiving . Feminist issues . Sex workers and the AIDS epidemic . The epidemology of women and AIDS in Canada and elsewhere . Social and psychological issues . Sex education . Violence against women and power dimensions in relationships between the sexes in the' bathe against AIDS in women . Young women and AIDS The deadline for all submissions is September 1, 1990, but potential contributors are strongly advised to send material before that data Contributions can be in either Engieh or French; articles will be printed in their criginal language with a sun/nary provided in the other language. Depending on funding, contributors WI be paid. A national advisory cownittee wit oversee the selection process. The intended schedule will see the book launched on December 1, 1990, to coincide with International MOS Day, which this yew will focus on Women and AIDS. Please forward submissions to Jacquie Marshorne, Editor, Les Editions Communiqu'ESte, 3585 St-Urbain, Montreal, Quebec, H2X 2N6, or tax them to (514) 842-1087. For further infomwdon, write to the same address or cal (514) 844-1781. What is lesbian community? How are we building it? Call for submissions to New Canadian Anthology of Lesbian Short Stories, to be published in 1991. Interested in a wide range of styles and approaches, powerful stories 1500-6000 words, that describe turning points in the formation of our lesbian identities and the building of our lesbian community. Payment for successful submissions. Send submissions and queries with SASE (including sufficient Canadian postage or International reply coupon) to: Lee Fleming, editor gynergy books Box 2023 Charlottetown, PEI C1A 7N7 DEADLINE: September 30, 1990 Lee Fleming has edited "By Word of Mouth: Lesbians write the erotic" (gynergy books, 1989) SUBMIT PDF Northern compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Woman Page 8 �SUMMER 1988 by Josie Wallenius This Canadian woman just back from the Philippines said to me, "Where is the revolution in Canada?". DRIVING ACROSS THE PRAIRIES FOR THE REVOLUTION My mate Sylvia phoned up and said, "Bring your slides of Libya to Medicine Hat". (Libya is in Africa, and Suffield, in Medicine Hat, makes chemical weapons for use in the Third world.) So I got on the train to Medicine Hat where Sylvia and her mate Shirley were organising for International Women's Day. They had worked very hard to get a series of very...political ...workshops for women on the agenda. Workshops on economics and so forth. So we did all of these workshops on International Women's Day and went home and chewed the cud. The next morning we got up early, saw the kids off to school then went to the Medicine Hat T,V. station for me to be interviewed on who are, and who are not, the terrorists in the world. The young woman_who interviewed me was very surprised at all this news, but I must say very interested too. Then Sylvia and Shirley took me in the evening to Medicine Hat University so that I could show my slides of Libya and talk about who are, and who are not, the terrorists in the world, and after we all got into a good talk about masculine and feminine and Peace and Justice, and apathy and T.V. and fascism. Then we went home and talked some more and went to bed and got up and saw the kids off to school and set out to Lethbridge. Driving from Medicine Hat to Lethbridge seemed a long way to me, but its not far to Prairie folk. Well, we went straight to the Lethbridge University to show my slides about Libya, Africa, again, and the girls and boys were as surprised as everybody else had been. They were so surprised that their jaws hung open, which actually is no surprise to me, having university students with jaws hung open, poor things. They got really interested when I told them why the U.S. wanted to get people believing in West German connections with Libya. I love it when people get interested in the interesting things. So straight after that Sylvia, Shirley and I ran staggering to the Lethbridge T.V. station where I did a 60 minute interview on Libya, Africa, and talked about who are, and who are not, the terrorists in the world. Ten minutes before the end, my voice gave out. It must have been all the talking in the car. So anyway, this T.V. camera man obviously wanted to hear the last ten minutes of who are, and who are not, the terrorists in the world, because he brought me a warm water gargle. So I gargled and finished, and the last slides were of some Arab children. I was so glad it wasn't a phone in, as I did not want someone phoning in and saying, "Ahhhh, children are children everywhere", because children are not children everywhere. Some children get blown up and some don't. So after all of this Sylvia, Shirley and I piled in the car, hoarse but happy, and the snow started a blowing, and this is the Prairies remember, where the snow doth really blow. Now, it seemed, unbeknown to me, that Sylvia had promised her daughter that she would drive her to dancing classes that night, and we had to get hamster feed too and groceries, and in fact all of Sylvia's and Shirley's children had not seen their mothers for some days for more than an hour or two, and you know what guilt is. So Sylvia starts to go faster. Then, for goodness sake, as well as snow blowing, it starts falling from the skies too, and there is nothing but transport trucks passing us and a-blowing up more snow, so we all got sort of agitated, especially Sylvia, who was driving. Sylvia started to screech somewhat. (she was speaking about South Africa the next day) "I wish those bloody truckers would have a bit of consideration for people in small cars, and if anybody thinks I'm driving out to Seal Island tomorrow in this blizzard to talk about South Africa, they can think twice". I started cracking up in the back seat. "What's the matter?", asked my mates Sylvia and Shirley. "Don't you understand?", I croak, wiping my eyes. "This is it. The revolution. Driving in a blizzard across the Prairies talking about Africa." The next day, in the snow, to Seal Island. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX cec e7;is- S m niE4" .*****.*.***.o.*.**** PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 9 �COMMENTARY By Joan Gullen, Family Service Centre of Ottawa-Carlton. Originally printed in CCSD, Vis-a-vis, Spring 1990. A caution about men's groups The enforcement of changing policies for men who criminally assault their women partners has an ironic twist. At a time when resources for women's support groups are still below par, there is now a competing pressure to provide more treatment groups for men who abuse. As more men plead Guilty in the courts, judges are wont to direct men to counselling as a condition of sentencing, rather than the obvious alternative -jail. There are few in-between options. Groups for men certainly are opportunities for many individuals to change their thinking and their controlling behaviour. However, women and the general public have unrealistic expectations of their long-term value. While we wait for the federal evaluation of men's groups, I would say only some men who have been in groups sustain their non-violent behaviour. Many find more sophisticated ways to direct the motivating force of violence - the overriding need to control. Women's support groups, on the hand, have lifted many women out of their debilitating state of guilt and self-blame. They have given those women the strength to say, "No" to violence, and have allowed them to take charge of their lives. Most of these women move beyond wanting just an end to the physical abuse. They want a healthy adult relationship. So where are the large public expenditures to evaluate women's groups? There is an insidious shift away from seeing women's interests to men's interests. It starts with those questions which arise at every workshop - "What about groups for men?" as though that were the fundamental question. It certainly is the question increasingly asked by media and public officials. More subtly and equally dangerous is the public's tendency to see men's groups as the main way to stop the violence. This is a simple and misguided emphasis. It ignores that the chief catalysts for change are forcing public consequences for violent behaviour and giving women more strength and resources. Why is this happening? First, it reflects the age-old view that male interests should come first, and tells us that we have a long way to go to place women's interests more securely into the public consciousness. Secondly, men's groups are more centralized, run longer, are better staffed and have a higher profile than women's groups. With few exceptions, women's groups are more dispersed within otherogm..- community based organizations. This has made it difficult for women's groups to get organized into larger associations. But men's groups, which are a more recent development, are already forming provincial associations. A founding conference to form a national association of transition houses has yet to be funded a level that will involve a: shelters across Canada. In public education seminars and conferences, mo are gradually taking over ti public issue of wife assault Men's group representatives tend to be articulate and intelligent, which helps secure them public attentioi By inference, when men talk about their treatment groups they are also trying to describe women's reality usi feminist rhetoric. Women speak about the experiences of women, their feelings and their emotions, within a conceptual framewo/ However, that approach ofter doesn't work in the public forum - it gets dismissed as biased and subjective. The public must be told over and over again, that improving women's condition is the mainspring prevention. The voices of men's groups should only complement, not drown out, that main theme. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ><><><><><><><><><><><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><: WORDS FROM WITHIN: WOMEN PRISONERS WRITE 11111 WNW women's PRESS The Women's Press is requesting submissions for an anthology of writing created by the voices of women in prisons across the country. Writing by ex-inmates is also welcome. All forms of writing, including songs, essays, poetry, are appreciated. A writer's fee will be paid upon publication. Women interested in contributing their writing to such a project, please contact: Pinelopi Gramatikopoulos c/o The Women's Press 517 College Street Suite 233 Toronto, Ontario M4G 4A2 () () () () () () () () 0 () () 0 () 0 () 0 () () () () () Northern Woman Page 10 optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor PDF compression, OCR, web �Congratulations 4 to the Faculty GRANTS Women Studies Group on their successful bid for a minor program in Women's Studies at The Univerity. Lakehead interdisciplinary program will offer a full-year core course Women's to "Introduction Studies" commencing September Ontario Women's Directorate 1990. 99999999999999999999999999999 WIFE ASSAULT Community groups involved in providing wife assault programs, New Faces and Voices at the OWD Northern Office... Those of you public education and/or assistance, e.g. shelters, co- who have called or come in to the Northern office in recent ordinating committees, advocacy groups, and counselling centres may apply to the OWD Wife weeks will have noticed a number of new faces and voices. First off, The Northern Office Resource congratulations!!! to Lynn Beak on the birth of her son Andrew David on June 15. oz. Andrew weighed 7lbs., 15 Both mom and babe are doing Lynn will be on leave well. from the OWD until February 1991. Pam Wakewich will be filling in for us during Lynn's absence. a broad range of Pam has research experience on women's issues and will be working with Rae Anne Honey in a community development capacity. Julie Faucher-Trudel, RESOURCE CENTRE our support staff person moved to Ottawa June 21st to join her We Will miss Julie's family. Centre has publications, videos and books available to the community, on a lending basis. Some of the recent additions developed by the City of Toronto to introduce women employees to non-traditional occupations, has financial with produced, assistance from the OWD, a new video to complement the manual it published last year. The 15 minute video is designed to encourage businesses to retrain women already employed within nonfor companies their The video traditional jobs. endeavours. Giselle Chiasson has joined the Northern staff as a Summer Experience Student. Giselle is a 2nd year student in Women's Studies and English at the She University of Waterloo. will be updating our resource centre over the summer months. Jesse Russell, Native Policy Consultant, will be working with and women's groups native sharing her expertise with both Thunder Bay and Toronto staff. Women in Canada - A Statistical Report. 2nd Ed. Major aspects of women's lives are followed with respect to family status, education, health and work experience. The new edition includes reports on housing, aboriginal groups, immigrants and women with disabilities. Making a World of Difference: A directory of women in Canada specializing in global issues. University of Toronto Press, This is a resource book 1990. of women in Canada specializing in global issues including peace, the environment, development and related economic and social justice issues. No Kidding. Inside the World of Myrna Kostash. Teenage Girls. Toronto: McLelland and Stewart, Selected by Macleans as 1987. one of the ten "best books of the year." Good Luck to the eight women graduates of the first 16 week Business English Program funded by CEC and organized by the Immigrant and Visible Minority Women's Committee. A Special Thank You to Linda Penner, Project Manager, for her dedication to this project and especially for providing meaningful job placements for all students. project project advertising, etc.. Normal annual operating costs are not eligible. completed the program. Employment Resources Human Equity program at Confederation College. care; BRIDGES, an innovative program tremendous organizational skills Industrial Relations and the child development/implementation, but wish her well in her new new until a replace Julie support staff person is hired. the in is a student Joy on-site include: entitled "Bridges: Women in NonTraditional Work" features four women who have successfully Joy Kilner from Go Temp will Assault Grants Program for up to $2,000 for public education funding. Funding may assist conference/workshop resource personnel travel, honoraria; Women and Labour Market Poverty. Advisory Canadian Ottawa: Council on the Status of Women, June 1990. Too Few to Count: Canadian Women in Conflict with the Law. Ed. Claudia and Adelberg Ellen Vancouver:Press Gang Currie. Publishers, 1987. SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS JULY 13! COMMUNITY The OWD Community Grants Program communityfunds innovative, to designed based projects promote the social, economic and legal status of Ontario's women. Preference is given to community groups whose proposals address the OWD's priority issues of: employment equity; prevention against women; violence of measures to achieve economic equality; and elimination of sex-role stereotying; and target groups of elderly, francophone, visible immigrant, native, minority, low-income, northern/rural women and women with disabilities. SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS AUGUST 1st! Recent grants to the North include: Kenora Area Committee for Skills Development $7,514 to develop and distribute a photojournal on women doing non-traditional work in Northern Ontario. Sudbury Ontario Native Women's Chapter $3,770 to hold two oneday information session on human rights, training opportunities, programs and employment community services for Native Women in Sudbury and surrounding area. This page is sponsored by the Ontario Women's Directorate. The material contained on it may be photocopied and distributed without permission, but with credit to the original source or the Ontario Women's Directorate. Congratulations to the Immigrant and Visible Minority Women's Committee on a first successful training program. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Morthern Woman Page 11 �CHALLENGES In March over 250 women (and a few men) attended "Women of the 90s; Meeting the Challenges". Cheryl Ball and Mary Cory are to be congratulated for their excellent efforts in organizing this very successful event. Guest speaker was Meg Luxton, Professor of Women's Studies, York University, and author of More Than a Labour of Love, and co-author of Through the Kitchen Window. The following are excerpts from Meg Luxton's address. I hope to be provocative because I believe that we, in Canada, face a crisis in the way our society is organized. A crisis - so profound, so deep, that unless we begin to resolve it effectively now, we face a decade of degeneration and potential social chaos. We need imagination and creativity. We need the courage to look critically at some of our most deeply cherished beliefs about the world. We need a new vision of what we want for our lives, and we need the daring to strive for it. Canadian society, like all capitalistic societies, needs two basic types of labour to keep it going...the production of goods and services produced for exchange in the market - paid labour, and the production, and caring, of people - domestic labour. But since the 19th century the way capitalist societies have been organized has been such that these two necessary labours are fundamentally in contradiction with each other. The requirements of paid work are incompatible with household and family life; the demands of the household are at odds with paid work. In the early part of the 20th century this fundamental incompatibility between the two necessary labours was recognized and the proposed resolution was to insist that society should be organized around a division of labour where men engaged in paid work, women engaged in domestic work. The lynch pin of this division of labour was marriage and "the family". Thus, at the level of ideals, ideologies - the best way to organize society = heterosexual nuclear family. This ideology permeates all aspects of society from the way work is organized through income tax laws, building codes, holiday plans, laws re who can live together. The more people live differently, the greater penalties in practice. Of course, people live in a variety of ways. Some come from different traditions, some prefer different arrangements, some are unable to live that way. Among those who do conform we find that despite claims that the nuclear family is the best way to live, too often it is the site of violence. (97 women were murdered by their husbands in 1989; in the majority of child sexual assault cases, the children were molested by their fathers, brothers or other near relatives.) Even for those who find deep happiness, joy and delight in families, what we have seen through the 20th century is that the nuclear family and the sexual division of labour is not successful in resolving, or even managing the tensions between the two spheres of work. Firstly, many Canadians value different arrangements. Secondly, few families have ever been able to survive economically on the earnings of one man. Even in well-to-do families women are economically vulnerable. The idea that women are supposed to be wives and mothers supported by their husbands has been used since the 19th century to justify excluding women from many paid jobs, particularly the most skilled and best paid. Young women are discouraged from obtaining the education and training needed to qualify for such jobs on the grounds that their main occupations will be that of wives and mothers. Jobs held primarily by women are systematically paid less than jobs which require the same or even less training but are held predominantly by men. This discrimination has been explained by claiming that women are secondary earners. Because of this discrimination, there is a major economic compulsion for women to get married (especially if they want to have children) so that they can have access to the (usually) better wages of a man. For men, the fact that they are expected to be earners, providing the economic support for their wives and children means their primary orientation is to paid work. The assumption that men have wives to do domestic labour, especially child care, reinforces employers' assumptions that such workers can work eight hour shifts or longer, can be required to travel, to do overtime, to not need to take time off for the arrival of a new child or to care for sick children. For many men, their responsibility as earners justifies their reluctance to do domestic labour and reinforces their assumption that it is women's work. As a consequence, for the majority of married people, the rhythms of daily life are profoundly different for women and men. For men, there is a clear hierarchy of determination in their daily life, with the demands of their paid work imposing quite strict limitations on the other activities in which they engage. Married women, whether they are employed or not, are usually at least in part economically dependent on their husbands. As a result, the demands of the_husband's wage work often imposes serious constraints-On their lives as well. For women, domestic responsibilities, and particularly child care, are at the top of the hierarchy of constraints. Women's capacity to take on paid work depends on their ability to make alternative care arrangements for their children. Furthermore, as women's incomes are often considerably lower than those of their husbands', married women often have to juggle the demands of their husbands paid work in ways that men rarely have to take account of their wives' employment. In the last twenty years there has been a major shift in the way married women and men organize their family households, and in the way they divide their time and energy between domestic labour and wage labour. Increasingly women are entering paid labour and staying at their paid jobs even when their children are very young. As part of that change, women are challenging existing practices of job and wage discrimination in the paid labour force. At the same time, both the practical demands of their paid jobs and their perceptions of fairness are motivating women to RomanOCR, ,.PAgeweb .44 optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor PDFNorthern compression, �Over the last hundred years there have been significant changes in people's practices around: childbearing, child rearing, marriage and household formation. People are living longer. People are having fewer children and the number of years they spend in bearing and rearing children has decreased. In the first half of the 20th century most women spent 10-15 years bearing children compared to five years or less today. The number of years women spend actually living with at least one child has decreased from move into the paid labour. By the mid 1980s, 56% of all women were employed in paid labour and women comprised 43% of all workers. More significantly, in 1987, 69.6% of women with children under 16, and 63% of women with children under 6 (compared with 49% in 1981) were in the paid labour force. The economic imperatives for women's participation in the paid labour force are 30 to 20. Marriage rates have declined. Rates of first marriage are the lowest they have ever been in Canada, they are lowest in Quebec which has one of the lowest rates in the world. However, the majority of people do marry, and while the numbers of women having children without marrying has steadily increased, there is still a very close association between having children and being married. Divorce rates in Canada were sharply affected by the 1968 law reform making divorce easier. Throughout the 1970s divorce rates increased. They levelled off in the 1980s. These changing patterns of longevity, marriage and childbearing mean that women spend a much smaller proportion of their total adult lives involved in childbearing and child care. As a result, there is now a greater diversity of practices. Some women complete childbearing in their twenties which means they finish active parenting in their forties; others begin in their late thirties or early forties so they don't finish active parenting until they are in their sixties. Whatever they do, women who have children now spend less than half of their adult lives actively parenting. These changing patterns of childbearing and marriage are intimately related to the changing patterns of labour force participation for women. In the late 19th and early 20th century, a typical pattern was for young working class women on leaving school to seek paid employment until they were married. Married women worked (unpaid) on their farms, in family businesses, or in their own homes providing services for pay such as laundry, sewing, room and board. At various points throughout the 20th century when there have been labour shortages (such as during the wars) employers and governments have actively encouraged women to take on paid employment. Throughout the century, the constant and increasing need for cash combined with the decline in domestic income generating possibilities, have prompted increasing numbers of women to clear. Even married women whose husbands earn enough to support them and their children are only a death or divorce away from poverty. In 1986 51.5% of married women with children under 6 had husbands earning less then $30,000 per year. 39.6% of employed women are single, widowed or divorced and must support themselves and their dependents. 40% of female headed families are poor. One in five two-parent families with one income was below the poverty line in 1985. This is three times higher than when there are two wage earners. As more and more women have entered paid employment, the fundamental incompatibility of domestic and paid labours has emerged as an increasingly intense social crisis. Let's look at this crisis. The crisis is experienced personally by: the Red Queen syndrome, the constant pull between the two spheres of labour, many people living in ways that are not satisfying to them (i.e. being constantly tired, eating fast foods, missing school concerts, being cross/snappy or ill, having no time/energy to give friends support=guilt, sadness because of lost time with children). This stress is inevitable when the full responsibility for children rests with one or two people, as children need 24 hour loving attention. Some children are not getting the care we wish for them because their responsible adults are absent, tired, stressed, ill. The crisis is experienced socially by: women not being available for public life, trade unions, politics, etc., and massive financial and social costs re health and unhappiness. The crisis is managed personally by: heroic juggling, or part time employment, cooperation of husband and children, and not having the children you want. The crisis is managed socially by: ad hoc solution (a good day care centre here, maternity leave in one workplace, parental leave in another). What solutions there are result from women organizing through trade unions, the women's movement, etc. to win: women's equal right to employment; maternity leave; parental leave; day care; etc. But the crisis has taken on new dimensions in the 1980s, with a dramatic change in the dominant economic philosophy of the ruling parties. From 1945 - 1980 the three major parties agreed that (1) the severity of depression would not be replicated if there was a minimal safety net, ie no guaranteed employment but U.I.C., hospitalization, education, health care, etc. (2) Keynesian economic theories assumed it is the role of the state to intervene in the economy through fiscal policies especially taxes and interest rates to provide a "healthy investment climate". What we have in the 1980s (1979 Thatcher, 1980 Reagan, 1984 Mulroney) is "stagflation" ie high unemployment and high interest rates, which is a break with Instead previous policies. this is based on Freedman's theories - a neo-conservative economic philosophy - reduce government intervention, cut government spending, give the private sphere back to capital. PROBLEM: This philosophy has nothing to say about how the incompatibility between paid work and domestic life might be resolved. It offers no insight and is unable to resolve this problem. In its more benign form it simply ignores the problem; many of its advocates urge a return to what is called "the traditional family" as a solution. But this has already been proved to be completely unsuccessful. So, we are left with a crisis. The economic philosophy currently in vogue cannot resolve it. continued pg 15 TlieWelfarePiother Folly half of all low4seasse earners are single mothers sr :color (Mamas PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woken Page �CMHA - SOCIAL ACTION SERIES NATIONAL ACTION COMMITTEE Women and Mental Health is the new first publication in this new series published by the Canadian Mental Health Association focusing on social issues from the perspective of health promotion. The cost is $2.00. A second issue, Immigrants and Mental Health, describes the challenges facing immigrants in Canada. Future topics will include Child Care, Child Sexual Abuse, Family Violence, Housing, Child Rights and Welfare and others. To order write CMHA, National Office, 2160 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M4S 2Z3, 1(416)484-7750. has announced a new program which benefits NAC - the new Bank of Montreal Mastercard. The Bank of Montreal contributes directly to NAC every time you use this card to make a purchase. This contribution ensures that NAC's independent voice for women grows stronger. PENSION CHANGES In June 1989 Parliament passed the Statute Law (Superannuation) Amendment which removed provisions that had suspended surviving spouses' pensions upon remarriage. The pension plans affected cover federal public servants, veterans, and members of the Armed Forces and the RCMP. Applications to reinstatement of benefits (payments are retroactive to June 29, 1989) may be made by contacting: Public Service Pensions: 1-800°561-7930 toll free Armed Forces Pensions: 1-800-267-0325 toll free RCMP Pensions: 1-613-993-3492 Collect calls accepted. ############################## ############## <>< ><><><><>< ><><> <><><<><> <><>< > <><> <> <><><><>< ><><><><><><><> continued from pg 13 What we need is a new vision, one which takes seriously the challenge of resolving this contradiction, by reducing the incompatibility between the two essential, parts of life. We need to reverse the priorities so that caring for people, especially children, is primary. We must establish as a principle that child care is not a personal hobby but a social responsibility. We need to think critically about our assumptions about what is best, what is possible, and think of what we want, need, dream of... and look to other ways of organizing social life and work. We must seriously consider advocating for a 6 hour work day. We need extended paid leaves for people who are actively parenting, and. for people caring for sick and elderly persons. We need to link school hours and work place hours. We need child care centres 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Child care centres that are flexible and supportive to parents needs. These are not solutions per se. Rather we need energetic public discussion of the issues so that we can develop policies rooted in what is possible, informed by our vision of what could be and committed to creating a society where life and work are mutually supporting. This is one of the challenges we face going into the 90s. SHARING OUR EXPERIENCE A BOOK OF LETTERS BY WOMEN OF ETHNIC AND RACIAL MINORITIES The Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women will be putting together a book in which the voices of under-represented groups of women will be heard. It will be a collection of letters written specifically for this publication. We are looking for the living, personal accounts of women who, because of their ethnicity or racial origin, believe it important to share their thoughts and feelings. We want to hear your description of the difficulties and pleasures of living and working in Canada. Whether you were born inside or outside Canada, we ask you to share your ideas and experiences with regard to racism, sexism, and discrimination in the paid labour force and in home life. The deadline for letters will be October 30, 1990. If you are interested, let us know and we will send you more details. Contact: Yuen-Ting Lai Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women Box 1541, Station B Ottawa, Ontario KIP 5R5 Telephone: (613) 995-2492 Fax: (613) 992-1715 Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women Conseil consultatif canadien sur la situation de la femme /V VVVVVVVVV V VVV\ PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy ofNorthern CVISIONWoman PDFCompressor Page-1:5 �by Margaret Phillips Finally a few warm, sunny days and thoughts turn to summer - relaxing with a stack of good books. As women's writing expands and expands, there is a profusion of wonderful books to choose from. I'll start by talking about books I've read recently that have delighted me. SWANN: A MYSTERY by Carol Shields is an intricate story - stories of four - five very different people linked together by their fascination with the obscure, deceased poet Mary Swann. Superbly crafted and plotted SWANN is undoubtedly Shields' best work to date, and it is destined to become a classic of Canadian literature. I've just caught up with Joan Barfoot's DANCING IN THE DARK (PUBLISHED 1982) - an intriguing story of one woman's oppression and (unconventional) freedom. Barfoot's ABRA is in the top five of my all time favourite novels, and I'm looking forward to her newest book, FAMILY NEWS. THE BOOK OF JESSICA: A Theatrical Transformation is the amazing and sometimes painful narrative of Linda Griffiths and Maria Campbell's collaboration in the process of developing and producing the award winning paly JESSICA. In the beginning of the book Campbell says, "... I still feel like some Siamese twin with her. I want her to go away, to leave me alone, but we're by the river...and she's dipping her toes in the water and I hear myself saying Let's tell the story of what happened, if we do that then maybe we'll be free of the whole thing, heal everything." As readers we can be grateful that this story has been told. Some of my friends will be pleasantly amused to learn that I am immersing myself in STARHAWK'S writing. Having for years resisted her - being of the mind set that one is either "spiritual" or "political" - it is a true delight to ponder on the possibility of integration of these dimensions which Starhawk advocates. Knowing I was going to meet Starhawk this summer, I decided I should read THE SPIRAL DANCE and, of dourse, couldn't put it down, and I am now engrossed in both DREAMING THE DARK and TRUTH OR DARE. I also want to mention two other wonderful books, BELOVED by Toni Morrison, and MAMA DAY by Gloria Naylor, both of whom I highly recommend. The pile of books I'm setting aside for my summer retreat contains FRIENDS OF MY YOUTH, Alice Munro's newest collection of-short stories. By preference I am a novel rather than short fiction reader, but as Munro's DANCE OF THE HAPPY SHADES is, in my view, the best collection of short stories ever published, I am eager to read any of Munro's new work. And I can't wait to get at A NATURAL CURIOSITY - some people declare it is even better than THE RADIANT WAY which I consider Margaret Drabble's best work. CROSSING THE RIVER: Essays in Honour of Margaret Laurence is also on my summer reading list. In her introduction to these essays editor Kristjana Gunnars says "Margaret Laurence has been a founding mother of Canadian literature. She has given voice to the Manitoba prairie. She has raised the value of all sectors of society by showing the full humanity of the most neglected and forgotten among us. From her example we have learned the value of Canadian literature and culture; the importance of art history; the truth of fiction and poetry.... Margaret Laurence writes about ... people largely ignored for lack of interest; old women; single women in middle age; people on the fringes of society... She pushes us to see their full value as human beings ... Her most significant gift may be the reminder her work issues in all its force that we are fools to create outcasts. That we are misguided to think ourselves better than anyone else; that ambition, wealth, power, status are things that entirely miss the point. True value is somewhere else, and-her journey is a slow discovery of where that 'somewhere else' is". Graphic: International Women's Tril Centre The list of wonderful books is endless and I'll jus mention some of the newer paperback fiction (as summertime is fiction reading time). FRAGMENTS I SAVE FROM THE FIRE by Mary Anne Ashley, FAMILY NEWS by Joan Barfoot, BINGO by Rita Mae Brown, WAVERLY PLACE by Susan Brownmiller, THE VICTORY OF GERALDINE GULL by Joan Clark, A NOISE FROM THE WOODSHED by Mary Dorcey, INK AND STRAWBERRIES; An Anthology of Quebec Women's Fiction edited by Beverly Daurio & Louise vc Flotow, TRACKS by Louise Erdrick, HOME IS THE HEART by Roberta Gibson, CLICKING STONES by Nancy Taylor Glenn, ZERO AVENUE by Leona Gom, STRANGER THAN FISH by J.E. Hardy, CHARADES by Janet Turner Hospital, VOYAGES OUT 1: Lesbian Short Fiction by Paula Martinac & Carla Thomas AFTER THE FIRE by Jane Rule, THE FABLESINGER by Judith Woolcock Colombo; and for mystery fans: 'F' IS FOR FUGITIVE by Sue Grafton, A LITTLE CLASS ON MURDER by Carolyn G. Hart, DO COLLAR MURDERS by Barbara Wilson. In the next issue we'll focus on new non-fiction work We'd also like to hear from you about your favourite books. For now, HAPPY SUMMER and HAPPY READING. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *) **************************** ****************************11 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Second Class Mall Registration Na. 5697 MAIL TO: RETURN TO: THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. BOX 144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 Return Postage Guaranteed Don't forget to renew your SUBSCRIPTION NAME ADDRESS POST AL CODE $ 6.00 Institutional $12.00 Individual NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4Y5 Nor-I-hem Woman Tournat PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 12 No 4 Description An account of the resource Vol. 12, no. 4 (July 1990) Title: Northern Woman Journal Topics include: Re-criminalization of abortion AIDS Women writing Women’s Studies program Lakehead University Kinesis Canadian women solidarity Recycling Ecofeminism Woman plan for Thunder Bay Poetry Canadian Women and AIDS call for submissions Lesbian community building Men’s groups Women in prison call for submissions Wife assault Women of the 90s: Meeting the Challenges speaker event Women and mental health National Action Committee Pension changes Immigrants and mental health Book of letters by women of ethnic and racial minorities call for submissions Feminist book list Authors/Contributors: Josie Wallenius Nancy Pollack Nancy Lyons Lorilee Wright Gert Beadle Arja Lane Joan Gullen Ontario Women’s Directorate Margaret Phillips Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2822/1990_Vol_13_No_1-2.pdf 3fd363c30b19b647c12abd79f805170d PDF Text Text CELEBRATING S ilLethern Woman \Northern, w' Journal $ 5..00 Journal Ia. I I 75 I Ia. I Northern Woman Journal "°\ E V Aye* blella Y. 9INItter E REFLECT ING N DEC MEE ;-.:ANUANY ,92F- 79 V01:0111° 5-c 95 lc 6 r RECOLLECT ING THE HOR'THERH WOMAN T...-Ategt 0 14 E RE- COLLECT- ING t ZHE WORTEitRN 1,100,01 wors.-. .... , .-r, . -'41 . 4ersosorc.... i tf ' %.+ 001 Oa'se ..-c47...,./1,-./7,2Y-' ,,.....--, -- / .- --- LL Woman -... t;s1.1' : i413 my) appy 5th Birthday ----Vol 8 No 5 too n northern Woman Journal .90 Northern Woman Journal v 0 I. 8 N0.3 OP VIERVISAE AN, vISICWiN. ArIEMV£ CA wa 7AT MVO py ASFC7S6 OLN LDS PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Edith This issue of the NORTHERN WOMAN celebrates ourselves. What cause for celebration you ask? Have we suddenly achieved: economic equality? freedom from violence? freedom of reproductive choice? universal child care? recognition of the value of women's work? eradication of poverty? Have we eliminated the systemic discrimination that marginalizes older women, young women, lesbians, women with disabilities, Native women, immigrant women, ALL women? To these questions we, of course, must answer no. The issues that face us in the 1990s are as profound, as painful, as the issues that brought us together in 1973 and gave birth to the feminist movement in Northwestern Ontario. Nonetheless, we think it's worthwhile to celebrate our successes, our persistence, our survival. For seventeen years the NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL has provided an alternative to male-stream press, has given voice to women's interests, women's reality. Our readership is small, although it extends throughout Canada and overseas. We know that our most consistent readership comes from women in small Northwestern Ontario communities and we're glad the information and analysis the NORTHERN WOMAN provides helps ease the isolation regional women experience. In celebrating the seventeen years of collective NWJ effort, we pay tribute to the women who were/are members of the collective throughout the years. We've contacted as many of these women as we could ... and their voices are heard throughout this paper. We celebrate the enormous efforts of collective members past and present; we celebrate our contributors whose analysis, stories, poetry and graphics enrich us all; we celebrate the feminist groups throughout Northwestern Ontario who daily support and empower women; and we celebrate you ... our readers. Our reflection on the NORTHERN WOMAN's herstory will, we hope, reenergize us for many years of publishing, and, we hope, will re-energize you in all your feminist endeavours. 31, eCej r we must work collectively After seventeen years one might say that the NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL has a life of her own. Her evolution has ebbed and flowed, her collective ever-changing, her contributors come and go, her home shifts (always coming back to Bay St.) but the NORTHERN WOMAN just keeps on being, always trying to fulfil her purpose: (see sidebar) It is easy to lose track of our herstory. So, the present collective - none of whom were founding collective members - have perused old Journals and communicated with earlier Journal women to put together this overview of our herstory. (If we missed out or misinterpreted we're sure that any number of past members will challenge us. May we hope for a reactivated YOUR VOICE column!). It really all began in 1973 when Northwestern Ontario feminism erupted as 600 women gathered at the Northern Women's Conference. For many women who attended, the 'high' of that weekend remains a critical moment of their lives. Although some feminist University-based activity (primarily the Birth Control Centre) had occurred in the late 1960's, it really was the Northern Women's Conference that sparked the NWO feminist movement and the development of many women's organizations and services. if we don't , our energies die continued pg 3 PDFNorthern compression, OCR, Woman Woman Page 2 web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor . �Herstory Continued The desire to maintain communications amongst Conference participants prompted the birth of the NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL, which began in May 1973 as a newsletter - a "bulletin board" of events. Very quickly however, the newsletter's collective determined the need "to unify women of Northwestern Ontario in their attempts for political and personal emancipation" and the NORTHERN WOMAN joined the growing ranks of Canadian feminist publications. (Of those early periodicals only KINESIS, NORTHERN WOMAN and (perhaps) the OPTIMIST survive.) Publishing a feminist newspaper has always been a struggle --- with enough joy and satisfaction mixed in to keep going. An early collective stated: "Embattled and beleaguered, without public support, we became an oasis for the woman who had reached the end of her endurance and needed the support that only women who genuinely care, can give. The newsletter bound us together and in its pages we poured out all the rage and frustration that comes when we are surrounded by an indifferent, uncaring and sometimes malicious public". EDITORIAL POLICY The Northern Woman Journal is a vehicle to encourage a feminist awareness of the situation of women in our society. The Journal strives to be a communication link between women in Northwestern Ontario, thus in addition to featuring articles of global and national concern, it will also seek articles of particular relevance to Northwestern Ontario women. The Journal, portraying women in a positive light, and portraying events from a woman's perspective, serves as an alternative to traditional media. The Journal's goal is to publish as much original material as possible. Current information/reviews etc. will be preferred, although feminist classics may be reprinted. The Journal must establish a solid political base, and contributors will be encouraged to develop a strong feminist analysis in their writing. The Journal Collective may choose for publication articles that reflect views that are not the position of the Collective. However, as feminists, we will not publish material that is offensive and opposed to basic premises of the Women's Movement. The material selected for inclusion in the Journal will be chosen by the consensus of the Collective. Where solicited contributions are not accepted for publication the Collective will make personal contact with the author to explain the reasons for non-acceptance. In the case of non-solicited contributions efforts will be made to communicate with the author, and where appropriate, encouragement given to assist the contributor to continue her writing. (3-2) In 1975 the NORTHERN WOMAN changed her format from a gestetnered newsletter to a tabloid and "dreamed of a wider distribution, a broader range of gut issues that effect all of us as we explore the ever growing move to equal status..." In assessing progress and seeking greater readership support in 1976 the Journal stated, "As we move with the times and sense the changes in our own' perception of ourselves, we are overwhelmed again at the responsibility of a feminist press. To keep the core intact, the values defined, to question the legal structures that betray our right to be full and participating partners in this society and this country, and keep uncommitted women informed as to the energy, the sacrifices, and the triumph that a struggling minority make on their behalf. If, in the final analysis, through our pages, a cleared vision of the term 'sisterhood' emerges and calls for your support and goodwill, you will join a growing number of women who have taken a second look and found us worth the price of subscription. Our intent is to consolidate not divide, to inform not to persuade, and to charge us all with the growing excitement of what it means to be a woman in these changing times." The desire to develop a strong 'collective' and the demands of `publishing' the paper have always been contradictory pulls on feminist periodicals (and always will be). Ensuring that the collective members' needs are met through collective process, and readers' needs are, met by getting the paper into print is a delicate balancing act -- not always successfully achieved. This is a refrain repeated a number of times over the Journal's seventeen years. Eujel)ttema Transthon %use POST OFFICE BOX 172 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V8 C=. S HOMES CELES.7.:76 COMMITMENT OF THE JOURNAL COLLECTIVE WHO, OVER THE PAST SEVENTEEN YEARS, HAVE WORKED TIRELESSLY TO PROMOTE FEMINIST AWARENESS AND ACTION. THE ROLE THE JOURNAL PLAYED IN OVERCOMING THE ISOLATION OF DISTRICT WOMEN, PARTICULARLY IN THE EARLY DAYS, CANNOT BE OVERSTATED. IN PROVIDING A FORUM FOR THE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS AND INFORMATION, IN GIVING MUCH NEEDED SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO WOMEN AS THEY ORGANIZED AROUND ISSUES AND BROUGHT THEM TO THE FORE, THE JOURNAL HELPED SUSTAIN US AND, IN THE PROCESS, INSPIRED AND EMPOWERED OTHER WOMEN TO BECOME INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY. WE LOVE YOU. WE SALUTE YOU. IN SISTERHOOD, CRISIS HOMES INC. FAYE PETERSON TRANSITION HOUSE continued pg 4 - Crisis Hams Inc. - titfrttfrktfrit PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page'3 �70; 4 .71 71 75 11. 1°9°9°0 A new Journal era occurred in 1977-78 when money was obtained, through government 'make-work' projects, to hire a Journal worker. This solved the 'publishing' problem - the paper was actually printed on time - but did have ramifications for the collective. More and more work - and decision-making- was assumed by the paid staff. Volunteer involvement fell off -- collective process dissipated. The grant ended - one or two women kept the paper alive, and a collective building process had to start THE CANADIAN-- anew. 3 3 II 3 73 7 73 73 73 7 7 3 7 73 73 7 13 3II 5 1 Herstory Continued ITEPSTOQY II 3 5 WOMEN'S CALENDAR HERSTORY 1991 THE CANADIAN WOMEN'S CALENDAR Herstory 1991 is the 16th issue compiled by the Saskatoon Women's Calendar Collective. As Herstory has evolved and changed over the years, so has the collective. Although, none of the original members remain active, the current collective still maintains the sense of commitment to recording the achievements of Canadian women, which distinguished the original Herstory collective in 1973. As a collective they produce a lasting record of the achievements of some special Canadian women. Herstory 1991 continues to present a wide variety of subjects and biographies. Herstory represents women from all regions and areas in Canada. In addition to some very fine historical and contemporary photos, there are also articles on several women's organization. Each year Herstory keeps getting better and better. New to the calendar this year are "year-at-a-glance" page markers, a 1992 planner and an address section. Plus Herstory 1991 has all the regular features-weekly calendar pages, phases of the moon and statutory holidays, weekly quotes, the recognition of important dates and anniversaries in women's history and complete references and sources for each subject. For more information, please contact Joy Turner, Promotion Coordinator, COTEAU BOOKS, 401-2206 Dewdney Avenue, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4R 1H3 (306)777-0170. canadian woman studies les cahiers de la femme C WS/Cf ANNOUNCES A SPECIAL ISSUE ON NATIVE WOMEN $10 per copy. Special 10% An incredible double issue of CWS/cf on Native Women in discount on bulk orders of 20 Canada -the reality of their ORDER Native Women NOW! or more. Add $1/copy for experiences recounted in postage; $2/copy abroad. their own wordsNoices. Please send me copies of Native Women. Name All orders must be prepaid. Enclose cheque or money order and send to: Address City Prov. Postal Code Country Canadian Woman Studies 212 Founders College York University 4700 Keele Street Downsview, ON M3J 1P3 The 'excitement and inspiration' fel by this feisty group soon was confronted by the 'collective-process/publishing' contradiction. So a decision was made in June 1980 to stop publishing for six months and devote that time to collective building. In that period ... "the collective regained its stamina ... The born-again collectivist worked on issues of the family; sexuality; was urged to read feminist books; and basically got to know herself and the other members" ... and began publishing again in February 1981. The core of this collective (with a few new members, a few departures) stayed together until 1986 when a number of the women felt it was time to move on to other endeavours. The camaraderies of this collective continues however in personal interaction and mutual support. The highlight of Journal publishing in these years was the Prisons issue (see sidebar for Prisons issue editorial). For a period of about a year C86/7, members who wanted to 'retire' made a conscious effort to recruit new Journal members, working with them as the new Journal learned the publishing skills and built collective confidence. This transition process occurred again in 1989 as new members became involved and others Aside from a small grant to cover office supplies in 1973, this 1977-78 grant was the only time the Journal accepted government funding. The issue has been debated regularly by Journal collectives and the decision has always been - no government funding! The paid staff volunteer collective dilemma was only a small factor in this decision. The major issue was seen to be the threat of government control of our agenda. The demise of sister magazines - e.g. HERizons and Newsmagazine for Alberta Woman who folded when government funding ceased, and the financial crisis Healthsharing, RFR, and CWS are presently facing, are vivid examples of the withdrew. danger of depending on government The Journal is not only a paper anc funds. (We applaud the determination of a collective, but also a "space". Earlier these latter magazines for surviving, and reference was made to Bay St. and there urge them to persevere.) is considerable nostalgia amongst longThe issue of government funding is time feminists for 316 Bay. Originally an on-going dilemma for feminist operating from members' homes, the organizations. There are certainly strong Journal moved in April 1974 into the arguments for the position that women's Archibald St. YMCA space occupied by groups deserve government funding women are taxpayers and we should have the newly established Northern Women's Centre. The collective felt inhibited by,the, some return for our tax dollar. No doubt Women's Centre, seeing it as a place for the funding question will be debated again women just beginning to consider by future Journal collectives. It would be feminism. These women would feel nice to be able to pay our contributors. intimidated by a radical feminist paper" so Women writers and artists should be paid. in 1975 the Journal moved into her own But we as women must control our own space at 316 Bay St. (space formerly agenda, and until we have a government occupied by the alternative newspaper the that women can trust, the question of Black Fly). government funding will always be In 1977 the adjacent restaurant problematic. space at 316 Bay became vacant and a The cover of the October 1979 number of women's groups took over the Journal asked "Is the Journal Dead ... or space - Women's Centre, Rape Crisis only sleeping?" The small group that had Centre, Decade Council, Northern been holding the Journal together threw Women's Credit Union, Crisis Homes. As out the challenge to other women. these groups grew and space was juggled, And respond they did. The the Journal ended up in the kitchen... not December 1979 Journal began with a letter great lighting but a marvellous layout table! to readers: "The Northern Woman Journal For various reasons the original groups is alive! A new feminist collective has been later decided to move to other locations meeting every week for the past two and the Journal reclaimed her store-front months. It is the first time for us to both space. When Women's Centre, the last work together collectively, as well as put group to go, relocated, a major decision out a feminist newspaper. Our experience was required. Journal's little room was in the women's movement varies... A few adequate but we loved the whole space of us have been active in feminist activities for many years, while a couple of us have that had seen so many intense recently recovered from the 1975 'feminist discussions, celebrations, and joyful times. So the Journal and other long-time burnout'... Others in our collective are feminists committed personal money to relatively new to the concept of feminism pay the rent and Women's Space (in the collective sense) and possess an developed as a comfortable, warm, energetic enthusiasm which seems to tie welcoming Space for women to meet, or the whole thing together... All in all the to use for individual endeavours/needs. challenge of putting out this paper has In 1983 the Northern Woman's been exciting and inspiring for all Bookstore came into being and needed involved... We realize the need to establish storefront space. So it was back to the a political base (a solid foundation) on kitchen again, which Journal did happily, which to build our paper. To do this we will rejoicing in the thought of a feminist need your help in the form of feedback bookstore in Thunder Bay. both supportive and critical. We have continued pg 5 chosen not to seek any form of government funding. All our workers are presently volunteers. Any contributions to aid us financially will be greatly appreciated." For faster service call (416) 736-5356 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 4 �Herstory Continued The Journal, Space and Bookstore continued merrily through 1984 - then disaster - the building was sold and we had to move. By this time Women's Centre had become disenamoured of their second floor office and approached Journal about sharing space again. On New Year's Eve we made a weepy good-bye to 316 Bay and Journal, Bookstore and Centre located at 69 N. Court St. (In the following months Women's Space as an entity simply faded away.) Not long after locating at Court St. the building's owner died, and an unsettling eighteen months was spent until the building was sold and the need to move was finally known. In early 1987 Journal, Bookstore and Centre moved down the street to 184 Camelot. By the summer of 1988 the Journal determined that its requirement for "a space with positive feminist energy ... (needed) to provide a feminist press alternative for all women" could no longer be met at 184 Camelot, as "the relationship between Northern Women's Centre and the Northern Woman Journal had deteriorated to the point where we no longer shared collective space but existed as landlord and tenant." So the Journal moved again - -and, happily, back to Bay St. The present Journal shares space with the Northwestern Ontario Regional Day Care Committee at 281 Bay St. and we feel safe and happy in our "women-only" space. This discussion of our herstory must make mention of finances. With the exception of the brief government funding previously discussed, the NORTHERN WOMAN had always been self-sufficient. Our revenue is derived from subscriptions, donations and occasionally advertisements. In 1980, the Journal was the beneficiary of the profits from Gert Beadles's poetry publication Rising. This generous gift provided a cushion which saw us through financial short-falls for a number of years but was exhausted by 1986. The Journal takes pride in her financial self-sufficiency. But many, many times it is so close to the line. We are fortunate to have a patient printer, Web Press, that is prepared to wait three or four months while the new subscription money trickles in and enough is collected to pay the last printing bill. Too many times Journal members have used personal money to buy supplies and postage. When a financial crisis looms the JoUrnal has made an appeal to our readers for donations. And you have responded generously. Without your donations the Journal would have folded long ago. The current financial situation is no better than other years. We are in the black -- but barely. We would enjoy the luxury of having a comfortable credit union balance, so our energies could be devoted to Journal content. We could achieve financial stability if we significantly increased subscriptions. In the past our readers have been asked to help in this regard -- you can expect to be asked again in the future. A word of explanation about the numbering of the Journal Volumes is in order, as no doubt some of you will ask why this is Volume 13 - if the Journal's been publishing for 17 years. The simple answer is lack of awareness of publishing niceties. Originally the Journal was published six times per year. This schedule wasn't always maintained and in the early '80s it was decided four publications a year was more realistic. However, we continued to print 6 issues per Volume, even though it might take 18-20 months to complete a Volume. (In retrospect this certainly added to various financial crunches as we continued to charge subscription rates by Volume - not year.) In 1985 we began 4 issues per Volume. Some years we've only published three issues, but provided 4 issues per subscription. Is this clear...or are you more confused? Because of the extra effort needed to do this Anniversary issue we've enlarged the publication and made it a double issue. We will return to our 16 page format for future issues, and we have the goal of publishing quarterly. (The realities of a volunteer publication means our goal isn't always met and we ask for your indulgence.) Throughout her seventeen years the Journal has been much sustained by our sister Canadian feminist publications. Early collectives were greatly inspired by Upstream and The Other Woman. Broadside was a mainstay for many years and is sorely missed. We relate to the concerns, problems and progress of other smaller publications. Our herizons are expanded by CWS, RFR, Women and Environments, Healthsharing, The Womanist and others. Kinesis continues to be an inspiration. On several occasions Journal women have participated Irra Canadian Feminist Periodicals Conference and have returned with renewed vision and energy. The output of Canadian feminist newspapers and magazines is really quite astounding. While some disappear from the scene, new ones keep emerging. While recognizing that the 1990s will be difficult, we are confident that feminist periodicals will not only survive but will expand in influence and importance. A gathering of feminist periodicals could be empowering and we hope this may develop. The cooperation, support and sharing of other feminist periodicals, past and present, has been a rewarding experience for the Journal, and we thank all of you most sincerely. The present Journal collective (seven of us) have been working together for only a year. Some of us are long-time community and feminist activists, others are newer to Thunder Bay (and younger), bringing new feminist energy to the NORTHERN WOMAN. As we get to know one another our collectivity strengthens, and our determination grows to ensure that the NORTHERN WOMAN survives. Sometimes Journal tasks feel almost overwhelming, more often it is challenging and fun. We believe the NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL is important. PRISON S ISSUE EDITORIAL Many months ago, as the Northern Woman Journal collective was meeting to plan future issues of The NORTHERN WOMAN, we suddenly found ourselves engrossed in a discussion of our (i.e. women's) situation. Many hours later Donna (who always discusses with pen and paper in hand) brought to our attention key words she had heard us say. Restricting. Inhibiting. Tied up. Locked. Cramped. Confined. Limit. Cage. Stopped. Caught. Duty Subordinate. Trapped. Silence. Inferior. Blocked. Excluded. An so, this "Prisons" issue was born. Prisons is not a cheerful topic. Yet, an understanding that the factors that imprison women are systemic is crucial. The "prisons" imposed by rape, battering, pornography, sexual harassment, denial of reproductive rights will only be counteracted when we fully understand them as issues of male power and control. The dilemmas women face regarding double work days, inadequate day care, isolation, and 'super-woman' exhaustion, will be rationalized only when we understand the tyranny of the "institutions" of marriage and motherhood, and can separate,tiae,Apgautops!-trom4auwmeiwnormal desire for warm. carina relationships. We will only regain control of our own well-fare when we acknowledge the misogyny of many "experts" (medical practitioners, counsellors, etc.) who have usurped women's traditional healing roles. And it is important to recognize and analyze the renewed economic oppression women are experiencing - blanketed by that over-used term recession. Let's face it, the governments' (6&5 and 9&5) restraint programs are a direct attack on women. It is not accidental that in Canada poverty is largely a female phenomena. Urging an examination of the prisons that restrict us is meant not to depress us, but to empower us. It is only when we understand and acknowledge the roots of the oppression of women, that we will develop the strength, the courage and the creativity to demolish the "prison wall". (editorial, Vol. 7-6). Congratulations for your achievements over the past seventeen years. ATIKOKAN CRISIS CENTRE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY MARC 11 8 1986 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 5 �%%LYNN SIHVONEN"% PAT GRAVER ESTELLA HOWARD 11S/°A s % ." % aek i al LYNNE THORNBURG 1 GERT BEADLE GEORG/NA 1 CARY MARSHALL GARAE7"7" trx004Stt IVOR4Eiv ItANIVkN PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor EVE PYKERMAN- DOWSON �<><><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><> KAREN A V A V A V A V A V A V A V A V A V TA TA VA DONNA MAKI tii, PHOENIX TA TA TA dir'r,i)p TA t- A, 4 -re/ <4. MARGARET PHILLIPS ti CP r4 rP ROSALYN TAYLOR'` tACCOU" J.? ARJA LANE IVO/ko IV 44 1#0/0 MIRIAM WALL .4).4> Cilfb a -4> 4, 4."-<>.-4.><> <> <> <> <> <> <> < > <> <> <> <><><><<><>.<> LORETTA ROSE '7 L-7 /1117 PAVAN pirns KIT MINOR RAE ANNE HONEY CAROLYN GREENWOOD MARY ANN CINDY 4 KAREN MAKI KLEYNEDORST 91.012 MARGARET PHILLIPS 4 DONNA PHOENIX 6111 P4 1:1 1111r.' 'V 47 <7 98 9 <7 <7 <7 <7 47 'C ".. V.N. Tv- v RAE 4140E t. V A woo T,), V.s.. N.. DEBBIE BENNIE IS .1. N". > N<> VI C > ><> "x -c-.N. N'.1. A MARGARET PHILLIPS V A V A V JANE NItliCIS A V A KIT MINOR V A V MARGARET JOHNSTON ts, <><><><>< e 47 v r4, ANNA 41? ' " V.I. V.N. A '<><<><><> <><><><><><><> v., NANCY LYONS V j°SIE WALLENIUS ci 0 V A V Woman Page 7 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISIONNorthern PDFCompressor �OUR FONDEST MEMORIES OF THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL.. when Margaret, Nancy and I were sitting in the office one night planning our Montreal issue. Perhaps it was the occasion when I felt the strongest about my connection to these two very interesting and different women. We three were one in our thoughts at that time and ... place. the Prison issue. the sense of achievement when Kathryn taught us how to lay-out and produce the HERE'S WHAT SOME OF THE PAST AND paper properly. PRESENT NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL... the excitement and energy generated COLLECTIVE MEMBERS HAVE TO SAY... when Noreen, later Anna, later Carolyn reported back on Feminist Periodicals Conferences. ... the mutual nurturing/support of the 82... ... 86 collective ... the hours spent (82-86) in feminist ... gathering with the collective to look at what was going to be included in the "next collective process. issues". sitting down together and looking over what had been submitted. ... sorting it all out together. ... reading out material. ... listening to other viewpoints or ones that confirm your own reality. Inspirational! ... ... working on the issue dedicated to the women of Montreal was a wonderful collective experience. I participated in every facet of publishing the issue: typing, writing, paste up, mailing, etc, etc. ... my own part in its production, my respect and affection for the collective, and my passion for the idea whose time had surely come. ... as a reader, I remember how grateful was to receive'an issue while I was in Norway House 1981-83, so isolated from the women's movement. I am almost as pleased today, to learn you' are still in circulation, representing a very important constituency. cutting and pasting up on the old lunch counter in the Bay St. location, with the omnipresent smell of greasy fries. ... I o 50c thorn 6 .1. Gm an Journ r wonTIZitti ... I enjoyed the camaraderie that existed between members of the collective as we put out each issue of the journal. ... the work and resulting feeling of satisfaction was rewarding. ...my first time sticking pieces together. ---14/N904 ... ... ... getting it out on time - what fun! meetings, meetings, meetings. early stage of women's movement. -r--fsA 4-y.,000 getting it out. when we went painting at the Kangas. Noreen asking me to do a cover. ...that we are still there for each other, even now. ... ... ... ... every time I was able to go without the twins to chase after. ... seeing the first paper that I worked on to it's completion. ... learning what it means to be a collective member (i.e. What do you think?) ... seeing my first article published. I liked the women and the ideas and I liked making a contribution to feminist work, but the actual work on preparing the paper wasn't really pleasure. ... in one of our first issues, that was in newspaper form, we printed a list of extremely derogatory words that are directed at women, mostly by men, i.e. cunt, pussy. It was a list of about twenty words. Correspondingly, we could only come up with about five for the male. I think this same issue contained fuck too. "Kill A Man For Motherhood" was done tongue in cheek, (oh really). Anyway we did have some concern about reader's reactions, however, the feeling of power of the printed word and our collective decision overshadowed other concerns. We had fun imagining the reactions of ... pasting up the typed columns under a single lamp in the back of the old restaurant on Bay Street (278) that was the W.W.C. ... Rosalyn and I sat side-by-side surrounded by old restaurant equipment, the Gestetner, and odds and ends, trying to be as creative with layout as we could given our limited materials. Rosalyn was a new inductee and great company and a real booster to my enthusiasm. ... the Journal printed one of my poems years after I was no longer involved. readers. *************************************** Northern Woman Page 8OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor PDF compression, �OUR FAVOURITE ANECDOTES, HORROR STORIES, ADVENTURES/MISADVENTURES... the radical irreverence with which we looked at life/our lives/men. ... the anger and the unpraised fists when we/someone became really mad. ... the "don't give a damn" attitude of the old Journal. ... I'm proud of our caring stance toward ... the only anecdotes I can think of are the ones where we had misunderstandings. ... the only mentionable horror is the scuzzy sink of cups with mouldy tea bags when we were on Bay St. We'd clean the cups, make tea on the gas stove and then sit on the old stuffed furniture and discuss. ... all women. being able to witness Margaret's utter devotion. ... ... too crazy to think about it, probably blocked a lot out. the controversial cartoon. the hours spent debating the political correctness of accepting an ad from a ... ... when I took the July 89 Journal to the Post Office, the woman asked me why we had not filled out a Statement of Mailing she said that we had an editor who was paid to do such a job. She got a bit of education on collective publishing and volunteerism that day. ... hairdresser. there were so many terrific articles. I was impressed by Margaret Phillips. After she went to a Creative Writing program in the States - she wrote many interesting articles. I always enjoyed it when a woman came back from something challenging and shared her vision with us. ,,i4,4-44111111iNioub..e.. ... I always enjoyed Gert Beadles poetry. ... I enjoyed Donna's pregnant pot. ... ... ... my misadventure was being a paid staff person. I was hired at $128.00/week on a Canada Works project to do the journal and various printing jobs the Women's Centre did. The contradiction and crux of my problem was that I had to revive a collective, but wasn't a true collective member because I was paid staff. At meetings, and lay out sessions I had a vested interest in making things work because it was my job. This weighted the collective in my direction. Hence publishing the N.W.J. was often a solitary task for me. That's why my fondest memory is being side by side with Rosalyn. ... The great thing about being paid staff was by being at NWJ 40 hours each week I met so many people whom I will never forget. ... having to listen to my (then four and half year old) daughter ask me why she had to go to "my" boring meetings at NWJ!?! Hearing her explain how these meetings were my work, not hers, and that she shouldn't have to go. I ended up promising her that I would not drag her to "my meetings" ever again; thinking these meetings will be "hers" as well, sometime in the future, if I don't turn her off by pushing her, forcing her to go. ... I had worked on several issues as typist, gatherer of Update information, mail person, etc. felt quite confident and fulfilled as a collective member. However Margaret and I seemed to be the only two who were able to work on an issue and together pasted up the whole issue. It took several evenings to paste up my long article. The time and effort to do that one article made me wonder if this was what I wanted to do with my free time. Seeing that Journal published with straight columns, correct sequentially number pages and great graphics assured me it was. the next issue was fun - it was assumed by some that I knew what I was doing and could teach them these skills. I ... doing one page about 10 times and nobody getting ANGRY. ... every issue. ... that someone who couldn't spell worth a shit had no feeling for punctuation and was not thoroughly politicized could take up all that printed space is still a revelation to me. ... when "they" didn't understand my design of woman with wings out of the bulk. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Page `9 Northern Woman �OUR INVOLVEMENT IN FEMINIST ISSUES/SERVICES... ... very concerned with young single mothers and resources for them. ... have met with others who share that concern. I work to improve the lives of women...whatever work I do, I instill feminist values into it, I bring along with me to whatever situation I'm in, the sense that there are options and choices, creative alternatives to be developed by women for the betterment of life. Feminism isn't an issue or a service I provide, it's a lifestyle I'm trying to live, one that takes responsibility for the changes it's creating, with care. presently, my commitment to teaching leaves me little time/energy to volunteer. ... in the past I have worked at 3 different Transition Houses and I feel that the issue of violence against women and children h my main feminist issue/interest second tc lesbian issues. *************************************** *************************************** ... ... everyday I meet someone who is a fellow traveller, and we are all making an imperceptible difference just by being who we are. *************************************** I support every woman's clinic and abortion rights, support nothing financially that does not support the cause and will do 2 Feminism and other right Brain Ideas this fall. ... *************************************** CARAL, Ogden East Community Health Centre (community development). *************************************** ... I'm involved in equal education for all. want to do all I can to see the barriers to employment removed for women. I try to equip women with the information to help them (e.g. Where to find good child care. Who to go to for financial assistance). I attempt to steer women who are interested towards a future in computers or to nontraditional occupations in the trades. I *************************************** I attend C.A.R.A.L. meetings. That is about it. ... LEAF - a group involved in Charterbased issues affecting women. ... I exercise a feminist perspective in my legal studies. ... *************************************** attempting to educate people not to assume and stereotype. I am actively involved in this pursuit being a lesbian co... *************************************** parent. ... *****************************4c******** the Northern Woman's Bookstore. *************************************** ... I'm a Board member of Faye Peterson Transition House lobbying for a new larger shelter for district women and children and working to end male violence against women. I am a feminist who brings something to everything I do, although my analysis isn't always as sharp as it could be. ... ... *************************************** ... Peace and International Justice. ... I am too busy co-parenting twin male toddlers in a lesbian/feminist household. *************************************** Director of Physical and Sexual Assault Centre. Still plugging away, and getting paid for it. ... *************************************** ... council member of: Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care and NW Ontario Day Care Committee. *************************************** Union - Public Service Alliance, Canada Employment and Immigration Union Loca 623 Chief Steward mainly women membership. CARAL - still trying to phase the organizing over to new membership. ... **************************************36 CONGRATULATIONS ! NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL "Women's weapons are traditionally their tongues and the principal revolutionary tactic has always been the spread of information." Germaine Greer The Female Eunuch WiMLEANCIES IKEN ORA Women Helping Women PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 10 �The JOURNAL ... covered ... CONFERENCES ... OUR WRITING/PUBLISHING... WOMEN AND POLITICS 1975 NATIONAL WOMEN'S CENTRES 1975 WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE 1976 ... no, no, no. None. ... this is not entirely original but I'd like to share it. "Feminism is the right to examine the world from a woman's viewpoint and analyse that viewpoint" i.e. Economic equality, Physical integrity (birthing/abortion/battering/ incest/pornography). *************************************** WORKING WOMEN 1977 writing proposals for work. ... wrote "What can I Do" with Diane Loucks and Donna Mikeluk and other members of W.H.I.N. published 1988. ... REGIONAL CHILD CARE 1977 *************************************** DRYDEN CONFERENCE FOR WOMEN 1978 WOMEN AND STRESS ... am too busy to write much beyond material required for my courses. LIFE BEGINS AT FORTY *************************************** WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN 1979 ... no time for my own writing, promoting other women's writing instead. 50 YEAR A PERSON CELEBRATION ... no time at the present. *************************************** I write every day in my mind, though I rarely take time to put it on paper. ... I have submitted an article to the Journal and it was published. This left me with a great sense of satisfaction. plan to attempt to contribute an article of interest to all upcoming issues. ... I *************************************** I write poetry, and editorial-kind of letters about various issues affecting our communities. I am being published by NORTHERN LIFE newspaper (sister of LAKEHEAD LIVING) in Sudbury and by NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL in Thunder Bay. ... *************************************** WOMEN IN SINGLE INDUSTRY TOWNS WORKSHOP WOMEN'S HEALTH 1981 ... not writing concretely, but in my head all the time. I won't be truly fulfilled until have written some fiction, published or not, that I am satisfied with. ... I write all the time for broadcast - short, single thought sentences, that are an art in themselves. ... articles are occasional like for Polyphony, or something for Women's Health Information Network. Helped edit out of town birthing. ... can't seem to get away from it in some I WOMEN AND STRESS 1982 WOMEN AND ECONOMY 1983 DRYDEN CONFERENCE 1984 FORUM ON WOMEN AND THE NORTH 1984 WOMEN AND DISABILITIES 1985 NORTH SHORE WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 1985 capacity. YOUNG WOMEN 1986 *************************************** GERALDTON WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 1986 *************************************** KENORA CONFERENCE 1989 sneaking a minute to jot down something in my journal. ... plugging away at my Master's Thesis. ... *************************************** writing music, performed by myself and other groups, i.e. The Portland Lesbian ... .90 Northern Woman Journal VOLE. No.3 CONGRATULATIONS ! ! ! ! Choir. ... Northern Women of The Journal on your writing the odd poem. *************************************** perseverance and commitment over the past ... Northern Woman Journal, Humanist, Womanist, Canadian Tribune, Change for Children, W.I.L.P.F., Lakehead Living column. seventeen years of publishing. You have been one of the consistent supports for all on LITMATLFE 1.7 YE V1SI0M, *************************************** A UTEPA11PE F CIAKE OAT MIES ALL AV women in the north. 1S 6 OLE LIZ personal journal. ... a book on my recent hysterectomy ... called "How to turn pain into butterflies and let it go". *************************************** the local paper seem happy to print my poetry and have on several occasions printed ver batim speeches I have made. ... I contribute to several B.C. newsletters. ... I do From the Crones Nest for ... May you collectively publish forever. $1.00 Northern Woman Journal VOL. 8 NO. 6 Staff Ontario Women's Directorate Northern Office Herspectives. *************************************** I've been preparing people that when I retire I'm going to write Gothics. They think I'm joking. Romanticism with a strong woman lead - that gets the guy - though not sure she wants him and lots of humour. I need a good laugh! We all do. ... *************************************** Jesse Russell Pam Wakewich Rae Anne Honey Nicole Laberge PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern-Woman Page 11 �OUR THOUGHTS ON FEMINIST PUBLISHING IN CANADA TODAY._ ... scarcity. I subscribe from Newfoundland to Vancouver, and find the Journal is still to me closer to the bone, uncompromising in its feminist ethic and the only journal can read 3 times over and get a real sense of the people writing it, since I refuse to give up my lust for rage and have at no time been impressed with scholarly dissertations on how we should proceed. find a lot of feminist writing today without heart or spirit. I keep thinking about how few books paper in Africa, Latin America. ... when I last visited the Vancouver Women's Bookstore I was dismayed to see so few feminist newspapers. The N.W.J. used to exchange with twenty or so feminist publications in the seventies from all across Canada, US and England. I think the powerful feminist books written during this time could be suggested reading, along with the, much appreciated, suggested reading list that the Journal prints each ussue. I am building up a feminist library, that I never had/could afford by purchasing from "garage sales" and used book stores. realize the financial problmes of the feminist press is a serious consideration. ... I am extremely proud that the N.W.J. is still being published. You all should be commended. Happy to see MS is back without advertising. *************************************** ***************************** I I *************************************** I ... persistent - survivors. *************************************** ... I hate to say it - I haven't read that much fiction or theoretical works lately of feminist authors/publications - except Atwood, Vale Allen, Sandra Butler. In the early days I consumed everything - I don't need to read - my experience with the work I do is enough reality. ... it is very encouraging for me to see some Women's publishing in Canada Women's Press in Toronto, Harbour Publishing in B.C. These are publishing important feminist and lesbian books, guides, fiction, and feminist issues are being published too - technology, poverty, ... etc. *************************************** *************************************** ... struggling still. Every time I subscribe to something it hits a funding crisis. Herizons, Healthsharing, and on and on. It gets very tiresome, but there doesn't seem to be the population base to support feminist ... magazine. ... Journal is erratic and often not worth the wait. still want feminist magazines because although they are less and less set apart from mainstream because feminist publications just don't have the writers, there is the occasional startling idea that hasn't been mainstreamed. Information is big stuff now - it's everywhere and easier to access--much of the alternative press isn't alternative in the true sense or the word and you really have to publication shop to get the whole range of thought these days. ... I I have made a vow to attempt to read only works written by women. Presently much of time is not reading for personal pleasure, but reading "Where is Spot?". ... I support in heart all Feminist works. *************************************** I don't access journals much. I need the local Women's Centre newsletter to know what activities are going on. Now and then I have to read a book or position paper on feminist thought and analysis. My escape reading is almost exclusively Canadian women writers of the last 20 years - I get these books from the library usually. *************************************** ... we seem to be losing ground. *************************************** ************************************** I am very grateful to the woman's Bookstore because I know I can have access to specifically feminist books. ... *************************************** ... ever-expanding. *************************************** ANSEA JOANNA MCLELLAND 1975 pioneer Rainy River woman ABBIE HOFFMAN 1977 Canadian sports heroine MURIEL BOYCE 1978 poineer Sioux Lookout woman SUZETTE DOWNEY 1977 Longlac artist L4URETTA JOHNSON 1979 Thunder Bay businesswoman GAYLE CHAPPLE 1979 Thunder Bay artist HEATHER BISHOP 1979 performer, singer, painter, carpen DUSTY MILLER 1979 municipal politician LAURIE CONGER: SINGING OUT LOUD Canadian singer song writer SHIRLEY BEAR 1982 Native artist & activist KIM ERIKSON, PATRICIA LUDWICK & SVETLANA SYLIN 1985 composer, playwright & director MARY BURNS, MITZI HAUSER 1985 actors SIDE EFFECT ... despite problems - it is still vibrant. My major regret is Broadside closing attributed mainly to burnout. The other feminist periodicals (e.g. Herizons, Newsmagazine - Alta.) fell into the trap of depending on government funding and were unable to survive funding setbacks. There are an amazing number of little publications and specialized magazines (Flip, Tiger Lily), that are surviving - more new publications arise - than old ones fold. However, we need a truly national, monthly paper. Kinesis comes closest to filling this need and we should probably support its growth and national evolution. (The Womanist isn't developing as the major national paper because of its erratic publishing schedule). We do need a Feminist Periodicals Conference to plan some national strategies and re-energize everyone. *************************************** ... COVERED INTERVIEWS ... ... RUTH CUNNINGHAM 1986 Women's Programs Director C.C. SASHA MCINNES 1986 tapestry artist JOSIE WALLENIUS 1988 acoustic storyteller DOROTHY O'CONNELL author In her study, Northwestern Ontaric Status of Women Initiatives 1973-1987, Fiona Karlstedt says of the Journal, "Timely, provocative and relevant, the Journal serves as an alternative to traditional media, covering issues and events from women's experience and perspective...A social document, broader in its implications as a political journal, symbolizing the ideas that were being nurtured by a group of area women simultaneously, the NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL is required reading for anyone studying the history of the women's movement in Northwestern Ontario. ??????9Y9???Y99 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 12 �... COVERED ISSUES ... THESE HEADLINES DEMONSTRATE ... OUR THOUGHTS ON THE BLUE COLLAR BLUES MEMOIRS OF A STRIKER THE CRISIS OF SOLE SUPPORT MOTHERS FEMINIST MOVEMENT WOMEN AGAINST RAPE IN CANADA TODAY.. LIFE IN A SMALL TOWN EQUAL PAY CONFERENCE: ANOTHER PLACEBO BLOOMERS FOR GIRLIES, BUT SHORTS FOR BOYS THE DYNAMICS OF CABIN FEVER MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE CERVIX WORDS THAT MAKE WOMEN DISAPPEAR OBSCENE USE OF POWER SHADES OF REGRESSION LESBIAN MOTHERS IN MOTION A COLLAGE OF BARRIERS DOING IT TO US: MANPOWER & U.LC LONG DISTANCE DELIVERY A FEAR LIKE STONE A MATTER OF CHOICE I have Orfect confidence in the .110"1"*iw inevitability of change. Feminists are thinking how can we keep the vision and survive in an oppressive culture. In B.C. women with feminist grounding are into Metaphysics and simply shoring up the inner resources to resist all external pressures, all religious and political thought that is detrimental to free choices. I believe these women will not give up this sense of self under pressure but are the new wave to future change. ************************************** ... we grew up - (the oldies, I mean) - it's still there, won't go away, nor should it. But we still have a long way to go. I make a small contribution. I worry sometime that we are still a minority. There should be more to pass on the flame. Society is still traditional and God help us! The last 9 years the mood has been right-wing reversal. *************************************** glad to see new blood, but the adolescent woman is still in outer space as far as an analysis of patriarchy is concerned: need to reach her at gut level. ... *************************************** it amazes me that feminism is still thought of as the F word. It concerns me that young women still believe that Prince Charming will sweep them off their feet and they will live happily ever after. When will they learn that when you have a horse someone must clean up the shit and that it's usually not Prince Charming. ... *************************************** I know that many women are working towards change in Canada. Sometimes we feel isolated because of geography. We are only as isolated as we make ourselves. There is an adequate amount (could always be more) of feminist activity in Canada. Some could use more publicity (like the NWJ). ... my feminist energy was drained, and is still low. Except for reading, speaking out when necessary and attending most rallies/protests in Van. I have not been doing much else. I did go to the W.R. Women's Centre a few times but have not met anyone at my level of awareness of women's issues. This centre is typical of so many in that it is always concerned about loosing its funding, and this is reflected in their "safe" activities. I think some of us who have been active since the sixties and seventies are tired. I get so impatient with anyone who becomes defensive with a particular statement I'll have made. Their arguement with me is usually on a personal level with a "blame the victim" mentality. It is terribly frustrating and discouraging. I think "The Personal Is Political" needs to be discussed/written about more. When women can see that their personal failings are not their fault, but the fault of a society which keeps them powerless, dependent and frightened in every aspect of their daily lives. Are these insights "clicks" happening to young women today? One of the main ways that women in the past got involved in the Women's Movement was in consciousness-raising groups. This is still where the "person is politic" will take on real meaning. Right now I think I'd like to start a CR group. Anyone know where I can get a copy of Bonnie Kreps' book "Guide to the Women's Movement? I also think I should get involved with Kinesis the Van. feminist publication. Overall I think the feminist movement's impact on the lives of women has been overwhelmingly positive from the point of view of choice, and will continue to do so. ... *************************************** slow but steady. I find most people are open to listen to, and attempt to understand many feminist issues. However, I find most exposure to feminist issues are limited to a selective population. For example in the classrooms and at work "Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls". When will the day come that people can just be people! Perhaps I am anxious to see the end result before our work is done. I congratulate all women who are committed to this end. ... *************************************** ... from a woman's position I see us redescribing the world. *************************************** directed and controlled too much by middle class women AND government funding. The feminist movement has evolved from an exciting radical theory into a bureaucratic lip service (i.e. talk with no action) that has alienated and/or turned-off too many women. ... *************************************** I miss the solidarity of our collective but still feel that each woman is doing her best individually to keep feminist principles alive. Sometimes I feel alone and I think might be losing impact. When I feel this way, all I have to do is call a member of the old collective and I feel strength returning. also know that another group of women are keeping up the good work. ... I I ... I think there is no turning back now. I can see the results on my own street--stay home fathers. Women may not consciously call themselves feminists but they are living with feminist attitudes because of the changes wrought by feminism. The people overlooked are poor, native - this is as much because of classism and racism and a lack of a unified voice, as it is sexism. Although sexism is alive and well, it's not so threatening to me now. educate the people around about feminism and lesbianism. ... *************************************** *************************************** *************************************** ****************************** ... would be a major essay. *************************************** ... I feel like we have a long road ahead of I *************************************** ... where is the revolution? *************************************** us. I try and make a conscious effort to still not getting through to women at work, i.e. all the other women. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor NI:Ahern- woman' ,'Page 1: �Gert Beadle I am 75 this year, deteriorating at a normal pace physically but still functioning above average as far as I can see mentally. I am totally selfish and selfabsorbed, allowing only friends of choice to invade my solitude. I take this message of independence whereever I am invited and have no interest whatsoever up anybody's poor self image...I in shoring am part of the collective at the W.C. but only as a supporting voice. I enjoy their support and affection. I host a full moon coven, and have for three years been their Crone. Women are my family, and first consideration after me. I love my life, I feel creative occasionally and still write both poetry and letters to the editor. (Lavoie) am Noreen DunbarWhite Rock, B.C. and the out of I live in and work employed by the City Centre. This is Activity and I am also a Senior Citizen casual employment worker for the Surrey My Retard respite care For the Mentally ft to be on Association 19, recently daughter Marcy, in Vancouver with two her own and lives an equal (I pay half) ith a man, friends. I share in relationship with support concerns economic not share my He does This Charlie. oppression. is somewhat about woman's relationship contradictory many other mutual interests balanced camp, and explore We dance, We coast well we share. B.C. and the west to receive beautifUl I was fortunate In May collective together. gift from a former trip to was a a generous Beadle. It Gert friends member, feminist I had a fewwould be just perfect Europe. If here life (sisters) out a visit. I'm into come for learned it from, for me. At least as a hobby, stained glass Charlie. you guessed it, Doreen Boucher Director of Physical and Sexual Assault Centre. Married in 1976, but involvement with Journal/Centre prepared me...gave him a long list of I won't do's, and he married me anyway. No kids...please refer to above statement. Leisure...I'm learning to slow down-no choice-getting old and selfish. For fun I do nothing..read junk/sew. Creativity...this job. Travel...fear of planes/flying-I hear Murillo is nice this time of year. this past Helen Ha let and is She left Thunder Bay Sunshine Coast, for the summer living in Sechelt. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Gavrett Aa:It1y busy and Pk cornp\eY, tNes youv year nlost second \s Geor4\na the 1\11.10e1s un111ce eet bo1.11 not year days, corop\etog one jbs, am ttlese With at tNo two sons, degvee, Of Vol sLive.1 12).1 laW pavOrne enjoy P and A oi My wov1( 1 one 1t. Tnocnas Peggy Smith After living number of years, in Saskatchewan for a she returned Bay in 1987, and is now in her to Thunder forestry final year of at L.U. Peggy behind the formation was the impet us Citizens Concerned of Thunder Bay about Free Trade. MO miss W1k1110.1 13) and but 1 do 00* 1nnipeg, tea\ sense oA in and 111(e11ving 5ay, that 111k.,Indet the e)sts thee. corncnt.i01.1 Sara Williamson Same job, family gone, more time outdoors. Donna Phoenix am an occupational with Ontario Hydro. health Branwen April 23/90.Tanya had babynurse my mother, I went to Britaingirl June 90. Bob building with underground and I are Lake Rd. house on East Oliver Rosalyn Taylor I recently married and had another son, Patrick Ryan Dowhos. I am still teaching at N.E.O.P (Native Employment Opportunities Program). I haven't done too much creatively, although I still maintain that pregnancy and childbirth are creations from within. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 15 �Oe her adventurous (Aesoiuton, in Fort adult KaA.hyn She contnues was in she vvordng we heard Last Territory Brute CAROZYW' GRee Ts sti21 the Nk7. taking Aictures the pctures Pe i ank for on p her 9.17. for Northwest education. Arja Lane I write, care for children, do landscaping and carpentry work, partt promotion contracts, blueberry pickinc seasonal work. I swim, play baseball tennis, cycle around...learning how to hopscotch again. Videowork and photography are a kind of passion wil me, along with writing. I have proud callouses from guitar playing. live wi daughter, a lover, our dog Sisu and ti housecat Muru, neighbours and Men( a big old house. I Teresa Legowski with Centre. I'm working with people C Living disabilities for Independent Lynn Beak spirituality. I'm married my I'm developing I travel to the on with a 4 year old daughter. boy, and is endeavours baby had west coast. My creative arrangements She just from the Ontarioyears of pressed flower include: large many cards; absence canoeing, leave of Directorate after and small pressed flower family. camping and hiking withWomen'sthe legal field. work in Elaine Lynch I have 3 children, married - 2 boys and 1 girl. I have worked at CBQ for 6 years both freelance and full time (currently freelance). Like everyone at the Journal, still imagine a time when I will write in a Viola Nikklla Toronto.She Is living and working In fiction or poetic mode, and not be so involved in journalistic writing. I do a lot of laundry. My big leisure is making sense of it all with other women of a similar orientation. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 16 �Kit Minor She is a "still struggling" feminist professor at Lakehead University. She has recently been involved in the formation of the Women's Studies Program and in teaching the course "Women in Social Policy". Her book, Issina.w, is due in the New Year, and she is hard at workout on two other books, one on Counselling, the other on Women in Social Policy in Canada. Loretta Pavan She has returned (Manitoba) to study Socialto university Work. and the Land Stolz \Nomens director at Cindy She enjoys She is art recreational enjoys untry e. She and tea dean Markting. cooking, Sportop music, co: Josie Wallenius Writing, international performing networking, for women. art, womyns chocolate. Rae Anne Honey women's groups in the I work with difficult at times but I It's busy, community. grown...I'm free to children are love it. My in winter). read, begin travel (Florida Joni Mace She is happy living in "Women's to be back home and with partner Cindy, Land in South She makes braces dogs, cats and Gil lies horses. in her spare time and artificial limbs, and reads, and makes beautiful cares for leather craftedanimals, gifts. Margaret Phillips Major volunteer involvement (beyond Bookstore and Journal) is with INTER PARES development - a very special agency working overseas for change and in Canada. Jane Saunders I am a grade teacher 8 instrumental with the Lakehead music teach piano and write musicBoard. i also inspired. when sports, In my spare time, do crafts, enjoy read, pay Ontario, Northwestern etc. our p artner Nancy, Daniel, Debbie Bennie with my and I live old boy s Justinand our two month twin 18 Amelia, birth was Retriever our Golden and Shila. Giving I've had experience cats Bentley Daniel. Justin and in the most meaningful know next to getting to get my Master's time trying to I'm busy wish I had more journal done Psychology knitting, writing in my for sewing, and Nancy! Mary Ann Kleynedorst She lives Gullies. "on the Farm" In her if hours in South and works on the house.she ride s horses, Rose Pittis She works at Lakehead Regional beautiful South Family Centre and lives in the Gillies. Rose enjoys the horses, the outdoors and peace and quiet on Farm. Nancy Lyons I am presently working with people with physical limitations, assisting them with re-entry into the workplace. Co-parent of 18 month old twin boys. Recent travel to the Michigan and Nova Scotia. Leisure..house renovations...paint...drywall...paint...change diapers...take the dog for a run...feed the cats...and more paint! PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 17 �AN NDP ONTARIO In September the unbelievable happened - A New Democratic Party was elected in Ontario. Analysts contrive to explain this surprising event, proclaiming that voters certainly weren't supporting NDP policies, merely "protesting", teaching the LiberalS a lesson. These experts are also quick to issue dire warnings that the NDP must not alienate the big business interests that have controlled Ontario's agenda. Meanwhile, social activits (on recovering from initial shock) are also pondering what an NDP victory means. The policies established by the New Democratic Party in respect to social, environment and justice issues, have, in many instances, been viewed as politically progressive. The expectations of activists are high. Will an NDP government, in fact, implement the Party's policies? Do we dare HOPE? The feminist community is certainly asking this question. Feminists (those who still hold faith in political systems) are encouraged by the number of women elected, and particularly encouraged by the number of women appointed as Cabinet Ministers (including Port Arthur MPP Shelley Wark-Martin). That women compose 41% of the Cabinet, and 50% of the "Inner Cabinet" is viewed positively. Of greater importance is the recognition that a number 'Of these women have deep roots in the feminist community; have been actively involved in grass roots women's services and issues; and most significantly, define themselves as feminists. The expectations of women are high. Will an NDP government address the feminist agenda? Do we dare HOPE? Given the few short weeks that the NDP has been in power it would be inappropriate to make a conclusive assessment of how women will fare in an NDP Ontario. However, it is important that on-going analysis be made. Of government actions to date we suggest there are some encouraging signs - and some serious dissappointments. - THE PROMISES During the election campaign the NDP's 'Agenda for People' made specific promises in some 30 economic and social development areas. Promises that would have particular impact for women include: Increase in the minimum wage to 60% of the average industrial wage, over four years. Funding of 10,000 new non-profit child care spaces and subsidies on 10,000 spaces in each of the next two years. Increase in social assistance rates. Pay equity legislation that covers all women. No Ontario income tax for individuals or families living at or below the poverty line. Improved pregnancy and adoptive leave policies. Improvement of the Employment Standards Act to increase the protection of workers facing layoffs. Employment equity legislation. Rent control. And of significance to the North: $25 million per year to train Native Educators and health workers, improve community infrastructure and improve housing. $400 million over two years for a Northern Fund to promote economic development, job protection and job creation, and improved services throughout the North. *************************************** *************************************** INTRODUCTION TO MACROBIOTIC COOKING 8 weeks Wednesday Evenings 7:30 - 9:30 Starts January 9, 1991 Limited Enrollment SELF-SHIATSU 8 weeks Tuesday Evenings 7:30 - 9:30 Starts January 8, 1991 Limited Enrollment HOPE FOR WOMEN999997999 THE THRONE SPEECH Those expecting that the NDP's Throne Speech (delivered November 20) would be a dynamic, creative departure from traditional (vague, bland) Throne Speeches were disappointed. People anxious to see what the 'action' will be must wait for announcements from individual Ministries, as the Throne Speedoutlined concepts, but avoided specifics. Comparing the Throne Speech announcements with the above-noted `Agenda for People' promises, we find that the government does intend to increase the minumum wage to sixty percent of the average industrial wage (over five years rather than four); will "increase protection of workers facing layoffs through a wage protection fund for workers of bankrupt companies;... support for labour adjustment committees in industries affected by dislocation; and ... stronger measures on layoff notices, severance and other adjustment issues." Legislation will be introduced to improve pregnancy and parental leave...". No details of the scope of such legilation were given. The government pledged "to continue the reform of Ontario's social assistance system and address thg shame of child poverty...". In late November Socia Services Minister Zanana Akanda announced social assistance increases of 7% for basic allowances and 10% on housing sbusidy maximums (effective Jan. 1, 1991). This announcement can only be viewed as a tiny step and will not seriously address the deplorable poverty experienced by social assistance recipients, nor will it eliminate the need for food banks - a long enunciated NDP goal. Absent from the Throne Speech was any reference to the promise of an Ontario income tax for those below the poverty line. There was the announcement of the plan to "establish a Fair Tax Commission to assist us in the design of a tax system that is more equitable for every citizen of Ontario". No date for establishing the Commission, or an expected reporting time was given. There was no reference to the `Northern Fund' in the Speech. We really can't assess what this means. With six Northern MPPs in the Cabinet, Northerners expect some appropriate consideration of Northern issues. We'll take a wait and see approach on this one - we Northerners are a patient lot ... but we won't wait too long. While committing to "make major strides in negotiating aboriginal selfgovernment and in improving the quality of life of aboriginal peoples", the specific initiatives related to health, education and housing that would impact positively for women were not mentioned. "Consultation" is a oft-repeated term appearing in the Throne Speech. As Northerners, who most frequently decry the lack of consultation, it may seem strange that we are wary of "consultation". While we applaud the government's stated intention to consult broadly - particularly with those most alienated from the political process - we have genuine concern that "consultation" could result in lack of action on issues that require immediate action. Contact Leah or Karen 344-5392 continued pg 19 PDF compression, Northern Woman,OCR, paw 18web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �AN NDP ONTARIO A case in point. "After consultation" ... the government intends to introduce employment equity legislation. Will the business interests opposed to employment equity manipulate the consultation process to prevent early legislation? Will the government permit this? And on pay equity, where the government "will work with employers and employees to find practical ways of achieving equitable wages for all Ontario women", we fear 'working with' anti-pay equity employers could result in many years of inaction, letting the government backtrack on their commitment to pay equity, which they many now find 'too expensive'. A further pay equity issue - the government indicated that they would "make early progress on redressing unequal pay in areas such as child care, where grievances have been long-standing and unresolved". Of course, child care workers deserve immediate pay equity adjustments, but so do many other women. The potential divisiveness of awarding pay equity to some groups and continuing to exclude others is very troublesome. In terms of provincial responsibility, child care is undoubtedly a most urgent issue. The meagre reference in the Throne Speech to "extend child care" is deeply distressing. In fact, the Agenda for People's promise of new spaces and new subsidies is itself inadequate. A few bandaids on the crititally ill child care nonsystem is not sufficient. Unless this government undertakes a fundamental restructuring of child care to ensure fairness and a measure of equity, proclaiming a commitment to women and children will be nothing more than hollow rhetoric. Northern Woman's Bookstore 184 Camelot St, Thunder Bay, Ontario (807) 344-7979 At a Journal meeting, summer 1983, talk turned to books - the tremendous growth of feminist theory; the wonderful literature of women writers; and wouldn't it be nice if we had access to this literature. "Let's open a feminist bookstore' someone suggested. "Oh sure" another replied "how would we run a bookstore when we can't even get the damned paper out on time". Much discussion later it was determined that the idea of a bookstore should be pursued, not as a collective effort, but as a partnership of Anna McColl and Margaret Phillips, with lots of Journal moral support. So in December 1983, Anna and Margaret opened the store - and what did we call it - the Northern Woman's Bookstore - of course. Journal members were the Bookstore's first customers, and most enthusiastic supporters. (Even if the silly plant almost caused a collective crisis.) There are so many wasp that Journal women have helped the Bookstore: constructing walls, building bookshelves, taking photographs, with creative contributions, staffing the store in emergencies, carting books to meetings; and continuing through the Bookstore's seven year life to support and promote women's literature. The Bookstore and the Journal complement each other, in our goals of providing access to feminist books and to alternative journalism. The Northern Woman's Bookstore thanks the Northern Woman Journal members past and present for your support and your friendship. OTHER INITIATIVES Bill 124: An Act to Amend the Children's Law Reform Act has been of great concern to women. Bill 124 could have laid the framework for mandatory mediation and forced unsupervised access visits thereby increasing the danger to women and children, particularly where a history of violence could not be proven. It is with great relief that we learn that Attorney General Howard Hampton announced at the O.A.I.T.H. lobby that Bill 124 would not be proclaimed. However, the government must take the necessary further step of repealing this Bill so its threat won't hang over us in the future. We welcome the announcement by Health Minister Evelyn Gigantes that the government will speed up the licensing of free-standing abortion clinics and cover ati their costs, and that the northern health travel grants program will be extended to cover women who must travel south to gain access to abortion. The more pressing issue though is the federal re-criminalization of abortion through Bill C43 which is currently in the Senate. While the Ontario government opposes Bill C43, and has expressed the hope that federal Minister of Justice Kim Campbell will not proclaim the legislation, they have not made the desired strong political statement that the bill would be unenforceable. *************************************** JOURNAL WOMEN AT BOOKSTORE OPENING THE BEST IN WOMEN'S WRITING THE FUTURE Is there HOPE for women in an NDP Ontario? The low priority given to child care, the hesitancy to move quickly on substantive issues, the overall climate of 'caution' is very worrisome. Will the feminists (and pro-feminism men) within the NDP caucus be able to carry forth the women's agenda? Will they be able to avoid being squeezed (demolished) by their colleagues on the right who ascribe to patriarchal values, and their colleagues of the old left who still believe women must wait until 'after the revolution'? There are many who believe that the face of politics has changed with the appointment of eleven women to Cabinet. And the NDP women themselves firmly believe that they can make a difference. What does this mean for feminists outside the NDP ... for grassroots feminists... transition house organizers, rape crisis workers, CARAL members, day care advocates, feminist newspaper collectives? It will be important for feminists outside the NDP to support and nurture the feminist politicians, as we expect them to support and nurture us. We have a bigger responsibility however. What the election of the NDP means for feminists is that we have to work harder than we've ever worked before. We must keep the feminist agenda visible and vocal ... every hour of every day. Our advocacy must be brilliant, creative, practical and empowering. And it must be relentless. ************************************** PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 19 �CONVICTION I believe in women The women in aprons, the women carrying briefcases, holding textbooks and/or babies, stringing telephone wire, repairing automobiles, playing guitars and pianos, using artist brush and easel, writing furiously into the night.... I believe in the women marching, singing, chanting or quietly standing and watching banners held high words illuminating our paths, our lives, dreams and soon-to-be realities I believe in the women of all ages, from every walk of life, rich and poor forming a never ending circle, building bridges of caring and strength gathering all people together to make this world an infinitely better place in which to live. WOMEN I HAVE KNOWN It was a natural mistake He thought the life, in her life this bubbling cauldron of spirit that tantalized his imagination and obsessed his dreams surfaced only at his bidding. Some sense that he was the key that wound her up and turned her on Like the magic lamp he stroked her and she shone, the genie appeared one knee bent, whispering master When he learned everything turned her on he felt betrayed as though she were less virtuous, the lascivious woman of the old testament, winking on the street corner, her finger crooked Separating her from her joy wasn't too difficult. keeping her pregnant and under his hand took away her song and rotted her teeth When he left her because she was a drag a fat slob with poor teeth she recycled herself in less than a year to a formidable competitor. She lives to beat the bastard - it turns her on. Gert Lynette Rich, 1982 AS I SEE IT From the privileged position where I ruminate upon the past, percolate in the present and speculate on the future, I am satisfied that we have raised the consciousness of both men and women internationally. If you believe as I do that conscious thought is the tool of evolution then the world must give credit where credit is due to Feminism, woman's revolt through the ages against man's domination of thought and practice. For the past 25 years it has been a time of preparation for a future harvest, clearing the ground for new thought processes, picking the stones, cutting the brush that has Ilealthsharing A Canadian Women's Health Quarterly HEALTHSHARING is Canada's only national magazine addressing women's health issues with a feminist perspective. Healthsharing provides current information, practical advice and insights on a wide range of health concerns affecting women. Feature articles cover sexuality, reproductive health, nutrition, the environment, violence, and much more. Subscribe to-day! ej 1 year (4 issues) individual $12 (personal cheque only) 1 year (4 issues) institutional $24 USA add $2 diminished our vision and crushed our spirits, and sowing the good seeds of self respect. We are changing the landscape of possibilities for the whole human family - that is gender balancing in itself. There is always a tendency to cut the corn before it is ripe, to bring in the sheeves in the green and to seed before the soil is cultivated because we have waited so long and need so passionately to leave our woman's imprint on this male driven, male ordered period of our history. Feminism gave some of us permission to examine in the light of our own experience all supposed truth as imposed on our consciousness by Patriarchal religions and other oppressive structures, gave us permission to trust our own gut feelings and begin to act in our interest and that of other women, an inner knowing that choices were ours to make and ours to act on. This is a life changer, a view enlarger and out of it come the visions to fill the vacuum created by the trash of old think we have discarded. Other add $3 (International M.O. only) Make cheque payable to: WOMEN HEALTHSHARING 14 Skey Lane. Toronto. Ont. M6J 3S4 *************************************** My truth is my own truth, I write it, I speak it, live it, my self esteem depends on it, I am We have created a general unrest in this male world, the cauldron of life is at the boil continually refining the tenets we have taken for granted if we take our eyes off the prize and allow those of us who are the spinners and sowers of the new reality to lose our clarity of purpose and crumble into pettiness of personal conflicts, lose our sharp edge of anger at injustice and give up that spirit of optimisim that fuelled us in the beginning and is so needed for the future, we will be stalled. There is a great deal to do to build that confidence and passion that kick started us into this great adventure. I wish I could pass along the pure joy feel when one woman takes her place in this world as a contender for the rights of all. Pat Broder, congress woman on Roe versus Wade speaking out "rescind this law and your jails will not be big enough to hold us all. Your streets will not be safe." Can we do less? I The truth is all, is in process, keeping the communication current, this discussion alive is in the hands of the spinners. We have told the world what turns us off internationally, nationally, provincially and civically, we are out of order and out of control. What more do we need to make us radiantly happy, what can I say? What we need is a break from the tyranny of impatience, a little more dependence on the natural spirit of women to defy authority, demyth religion, delay absorption and generally seek her own path to liberation. She is being felt in the culture today, taking back her spiritual energy from religion, taking back her dependence on daddy, taking back her power to decide, putting the emphasis where it belongs - on her potential for change. Gert I a sower of heretical thought, feminism without dogma or apology or ceasing. It is taking root in ways we cannot forsee, will bear fruit we cannot imagine, even the storm troopers of the old way, the realistic, active equal for lifers will not subvert the winds of change. *************************************** *************************************** PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman ,Page.20 �OUR SISTERHOOD SAVING GRACE London, Ontario in the summer of 1987, met a woman named Nancy Vanderburgh who had ridden her While living in I out of pace with the world in space of my own not alone just not a clone born to beat time to death . . mountain bike from Portland, Oregon to . Boston en route to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. We soon became aware of our common interest in music. I was most intrigued in a newly formed group of which she was a member, the Portland Lesbian Choir. A funny anecdote goes like this Nancy was using her office photocopier to . out of pace with the world without the big race there is no reason to try, there are reasons for why . . . hear my cry of resistance my yell of rebellion Arja Lane . . copy music as a favour to the group (an illegal activity at the best of times!) when she was approached by a co-worker who said "Oh, are you in a choir?" Nancy replied "Yes, the Portland Lesbian Choir." The woman seemed a little stunned but managed to say "Wow, no men, eh?" I enjoyed that story a great deal and as we regaled each other with similar stories, I decided that my contribution to the new choir could be a 'theme song.' I composed Our Sisterhood" in the style of "Every Woman," a Teresa Trull classic. The choir has since performed it many times in concert, including their set at GALA Ill (a Canadian - American Gay/Lesbian Choral Festival). I had an ad hoc choir which performed "Our Sisterhood" at the L.S.W.A.G (London Status of Women Action Group) 10th Anniversary Potluck in London, 1988. The lyrics are, hope, inspirational. Maybe someday you will hear the piece sung by a women's choir. It is a powerful experience. I Verse 1: MEDITATION I seek to know And in knowing, to understand. This knowledge is gained Through awareness Of myself And in so knowing, Of others. While we are so different, We are so much the same That in unity We join peacefully To form a life force that joins The unified field. I celebrate the knowledge that is nature That is within us all As nature's creatures. I celebrate the knowledge of cells, Of their simplicity That becomes so complex In our attempts To translate in order to understand. My only duty is to seek nature's beauty Without translation, To seek her clarity And her truth, And in so seeking, Become engaged in a journey, A process of enlightenment A process of knowing Of feeling Of becoming Of being. For too long Our voices have been silent We were living in the dark We knew nothing of our power Then we felt the spark! The spark burst into flame The flame burst into light And now we know That our voices are our right! Chorus: We will sing out loud We will sing out proud For our strength For our freedom For our Sisterhood We will sing our song Won't you sing along? Verse 2: Now our voices They speak of love They sing of battles we have tried Of the struggles yet to come And they sing of pride! Of pride for what we are Of pride what we'll be Our fears have kept us bound Now our spirit sets us free! Jane Joyce Ann Michalchuk PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION NorthernPDFCompressor Woman Page 21 �TO THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL AND THE COLLECTNE WOMEN WHO .1.75 Nerthern Woman HAVE PRESERVED ITS PRESENCE THROUGHOUT THE YEARS. Journal Seventeen years of work and pride, Documenting women's lives, For: About: Produced by women, Where we are, Where we've been. July 1990 Volume 12 No. 4 Thunder Bay, Ontario Recording women's herstoty, Issues, stories, poetry, Articles, feminist reviews, Women's plans, events and news. Sharing experience and thought, Exposing myths which we were taught. Providing forum for women's voices, Affirming women's worth and choices. Writing, editing, volunteer hours, Graphics, layouts, volunteer dollars. Struggling to get to print on time, Feminists working side by side. A lesson each of us should heed, The collective effort can succeed, Demonstrated proof to all, We applaud the Northern Woman Journal. -me. i-f00Z:--. Ma-nee Davis designed the cover for our last issue, Volume 12 No. 4. We apologize for not crediting her. THANK YOU FOR BROADENING OUR HORIZONS, CHALLENGING OUR THINKING, AND FOR BEING AN INVALUABLE LINK IN THE NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO WOMEN'S NETWORK. The Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council. ################################################ U-TURN FOR CHILD CARE The crisis in child care continues as families struggle, unsuccessful to find accessible, affordable, comprehensive quality child care. Recommendations recently made by the Ontario Coalition of Better Child Care would begin to turn this around and develop an adequate child care system in Ontario. The key elements of the Coalition `U-Turn for Child Care' include: EACH CHILD CARE PROGRAM WILL BE FULLY FUNDED BY THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT, WHICH WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR COST RECOVERY THROUGH A SEPARATE ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM. Child care programs will no longer operate on a fee-for-service basis. All non-profit child care programs will become provincially funded services similar to other child welfare and education programs. Child care programs will be directly funded based on annual budgets approved by the provincial government in accordance with provincial guidelines. Recovery of costs from parents and other levels of government will be the responsibility of the provincial government. THE PROVINCIAL CHILD CARE SYSTEM WILL BE NON-PROFIT All programs will be operated by non-profit corporations, municipalities or Indian bands. Existing for-profit programs could become part of the provincial child care system by conversion to non-profit status; those not choosing to convert will continue as they are currently. THE PROVINCIAL CHILD CARE SYSTEM WILL BE COMPREHENSIVE A range of regulated services will be provided, including full day group child care, half-day and part-time programs, private home day care, before- and afterschool programs, parent-child resource centres, and services for shift workers and seasonal workers. The Coalition presented the position to the new NDP government at a Lobby in Early November. The government called the paper a 'practical' document and promised to study it. Nortfietn Woman Pageweb 22 optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor PDF compression, OCR, �`CONGRATULATIONS to members of the Northern Woman Journal collective on THE DANGEROUS STRUGGLE seventeen years of thoughtful and stimulating dialogue on women's issues." from LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S STUDIES GROUP by Josephine Mandamin How do you explain something that transcends all time, space, and energies of the earth? How can the questions of Oka be answered in one sentence? It is not easy to explain what flows through your veins. The blood lines that are intermingled with _Mother Earth are the same energy and blood that runs through our Native blood. The Oka standoff could have been averted had the politicians listened seriously to the Mohawks' request for negotiations, six months prior to the occurrence. In a show of police and army strength, the government portrayed the Native people as criminals for the whole country to frown on. Meanwhile, Native people were gaining a momentum of support from Canadians in all walks of life, showing the government, the will of Canadians to stand beside each other in time of great strain. The supporters who went to Oka represented men, women and children from across North America, in all four directions. Sacred pipes of prayers, and Elders from these four directions were gathered at the barricades where there were continuous spiritual ceremonies conducted daily for strength and encouragement for the families behind the barricades. This show of unity has been felt by all peoples throughout the world as words of support came through the messengers. It seemed that time stood still as Native people waited and prepared: for the moment in history, for the bloodshed of their Native brothers and sisters, for the ghost dance. The power of the Elders' ceremonies will never be forgotten, as strange occurrences were reported by participants in their circles. Time, Space, and Earth energies are powerful especially when the pulse of Native blood runs with her energies. We knew then that events would not allow for the ghost dancers to dance their last dance. Not this time. How can this feeling of unity with the earth and Native people be explained? Some things cannot be explained with words. Our children know and understand without explanation; it runs in their veins. They are part of the earth. We are all a part of the earth. Therefore, we all need to protect her, for giving us her gifts of food, water, air and fire. This is our role. MEGWETCH! .90 Northern Woman Journal Women Unite -Ye-45,1 TAPESTRY Silence catch the motion of carousels turning, touch the shadows of beach fires burning, hear the call on the shore of the lake lone scavenger searching, crying out for a mate. feel the stillness of night with relief from the day, count the stars in the sky as they revolve on their way. chanting waves lullaby the sea comforting sounds floating for free. the coolness of sand relieved of its warmth now feeling the dew damp in the hand. see the moon and catch its glow lighting the sea as her essence flows, darkness is mine until the dawn, silence is mine, love the sound. i Viola PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor *Northern WP B, pipe 23 �Beendigen Inc./Native Women's Crisis Home, Thunder Bay easy-to-read pamphlets for native communities. Ontario Women's Directorate Direction generale de la condition feminine de l'Ontario RESOURCE CENTRE Services/Funding for Adult Incest Survivors within Ontario; A report for the Ontario Women's Directorate in Connie Guberman, December Geraldton Family Resource Centre, Geraldton performances by Family Life Theatre Group. 1989. The Healing Way: Adult Recovery from Childhood Sexua] Abuse; Kristin A. Kunzman, Hoshizaki House, Dryden - bus displays; display board; buttons; radio/newspaper ads. WIFE ASSAULT PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANTS As one of her first official announcements, Anne Swarbrick, Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, declared November Wife Assault Prevention Month. In the house on November 26, Minister Swarbrick said that violence against women is recognized by this government as a power imbalance between men and women in our society. When the community and government work together to eliminate wife assault much more can be achieved. Agencies and groups working at the local level are in the best position to convey the message that "Wife Assault is a Crime ". The following Northern Ontario groups have received OWD funding to get this message out to their communities. 00a A.C.F.O. (Association QL. Canadienrie-Francaise de l'Ontario), Timmins community theatre in French and English; bilingual billboards and posters. Canadian Mental Health Association - Family Resource Centre, Matheson - annual community film festival on wife assault. Chadwic Home, Family Resource Centre, Wawa - information sheets distributed to post office boxes, schools, and libraries; local newspaper advertisments. Nishnawbe-Gamik Friendship Centre, Sioux Lookout workshops to include police, hospital workers, chiefs and social workers. Northshore Family Resource Centre, Marathon - one day workshop for police and 1990. Positive and gentle guide to recovery from childhood sexual abuse with special emphasis or its relationship to alcoholism. Immigrant Women's Planning Committee, Thunder Bay workshops for volunteer immigrant and visible minority women. Kenora Family Resource Centre - workshops; billboards. Ecole Secondaire de Hearst workshops for high school girls on dating violence. Esprit Place Resource Centre, Parry Sound - one day legal workshop for community organizations. Family Services Centre, Sault St. Marie - performances by Family Life Theatre Group in seven high schools. Habitat Interlude, Kapuskasing - billboards developed by elementary school students. Manitoulin Haven House/Manitoulin Interagency Committee Against Family Violence, Mindemoya - one-day workshop including performance by native theatre group with Company of Sirens. Ontario Native Women's Association, Calstock - oneday workshop open to the community. Pavilion Family Resource Centre, Haileybury - radio campaign; public transit sign; materials distributed throughout community. South Timiskaming CoOrdinating Committee for the Prevention of Wife Assault, Haileybury - pamphlet; radio advertising campaign. A.E.F.O. (Association des Enseignants et des Enseignantes Franco-Ontariens) Thunder Bay - theatre production for francophone women and high school students. (1 Social Movements/Social Change: The Politics and Practice of Organizing; Society for Socialist Studies, 1988. This book goes beyond abstract debates about the relevance of new movements to socialism by providing firsthand stories of organizing. Subjects discussed include disabled women, labour and ecology, schooling, peace, self-help, childcare, the March 8th coalition, gay politics, the campaign for free-standing abortion clinics, visible minority women, and the culture of resistance. The Infertility Dilemma: Reproductive Technologies and Prevention; Heather Bryant, Department of Community Healtl Services, 1990. Hidden in the Household: Women's Domestic Labour under Capitalism; The Women's Press, , 1980. THANK YOU WOMEN'S GROUPS who found time in your hectic schedules to meet with Joan Andrew new director of Policy and Research Branch. Special thanks to groups whosE time was rescheduled to compensate for Northern trave] conditions....Joan's flight t( and over Thunder Bay and late return. public. Rainy River District Family Violence Network, Fort Frances - billboard. Thunder Bay Co-Ordinating Committee Against Family Violence, Thunder Bay handbook Women in Crisis Sioux/Hudson/ North, Sioux Lookout - one-day workshop for assaulted women. This page is sponsored by the Ontario Warren's Directorate. The material contained on it may be photocopied and distributed without permission, but with credit to the original source or the Ontario %men's Directorate. Women working in nontraditional occupations met on November 26th to talk with each other. Another meeting will be held on MONDAY, DECEMBER 10 at 4:30 al Ontario Women's Directorate Office, 107C Johnson Avenue t( begin planning a conference. If you are interested and wane to become involved, if you have great ideas or just want more information, call 3456084. PDF Northern compression, OCR,24web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Woman Page �STATUS OF WOMEN REPORT Remember the Status of Women Report? Maybe only those of us over 40 do. But for the budding Canadian feminist movement of the early 1970s the Report was an important document. After three years of research and considerable input (public hearings, written submissions) from Canadian women, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women presented their report on September 28, 1970. The Report's 167 recommendations addressed many issues - economics, education, health, poverty, legal, participation in public life. As this was a government appointed Royal Commission report, the recommendations received much public attention, and many promises of government action. Canadian women were hopeful that our concerns would be taken seriously. Twenty years later it is harder to be hopeful. Witness: - the escalation of violence against women (in its many forms); - legislation to re-criminalize abortion (passed by the House of Commons but still before the Senate); - funding cuts to (Secretary of State) Women's Programs and a multitude of community women's organizations; -, the wage gap (women's earnings 65% of male earnings); - the feminization of poverty, and. on and on. A document 'TWENTY YEARS LATER', provided by MP Dawn Black, NDP Status of Women critic, offers an assessment of the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. This analysis reveals that many of the Report's maior recommendations have not been implemented; others only partially addressed; some implemented in theory, but not in practice, while many of the fully implemented recommendations were the "easiest" (least likely to affect the status quo??) - Northern Woman Journal 111 M. ...Ow, So we see implementation of recommendations such as "the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act be amended so that its provisions will be the same for male and female contributors", and "that the federal government change its passport application forms in order to indicate that a married woman may obtain her passport either in her maiden surname or in the surname of her husband". Useful changes for the affected individuals no doubt, but hardly likely to impact the power imbalance. More problematic are the "theoretically" adopted recommendations that appear to have addressed inequities but in fact have not achieved their goals. For example, the recommendation that "the Female Employees Equal Pay Act be amended to apply to all employees of the Government of Canada." The Canadian Human Rights Act came into effect in 1978, yet in 1988 the Human Rights Commission noted that "administrative delay and bureaucratic infighting remain more the hallmark of the program thus far than any genuine move toward pay equity". As recently as January 1990 the federal government compensated for underpaid employees (secretaries, data processors and clerks). However, in the view of the affected union the compensation is between one quarter and one third of what the women are owed, thus complaints have been filed, and no settlement yet reached. Understanding that twelve years after the Act was passed its intent is still not enforced demonstrates the lack of commitment to fundamental change that still exists. The continued discrimination faced by immigrant women in respect to language training programs, places "triple burden" on immigrant women. Why has there been so little action on the Royal Commission's recommendations regarding immigrant women? The lack of consideration of the needs of women prisoners is a national disgrace. Most women offenders are victims/survivors of abuse and need supportive, not punitive measures. In 1970, the Royal Commission recommended the closure of the Kingston Women's Prison. At least eight subsequent studies have reiterated this recommendation. Recently the government indicated the prison will close by 1994. Twenty-four years to achieve an obvious solution is hardly defensible! 20 YEARS LATER In some instances forward looking recommendations not only haven't been implemented, but government action has worsened the problem. Family allowances have not increased, rather they have been indexed. Enhancement of birth control information has not occurred, rather funding to Planned Parenthood has been consistently reduced since 1977. Financial support to community women's groups is also increasingly being eroded. In 1990 the federal government tried to impose 100% funding cuts to women's centres. Effective protests from women across the country reversed this decision, but for one year only, and in a few brief months the women's centres funding crisis will again be upon us. It is instructive to note that the major recommendations of the Royal Commission have not been enacted. We do not have a national child care program We do not have pensions for homemakers. (Unless its stalls in the Senate) we shall soon see a recriminalization of abortion. We must understand, and give continuing analysis to the realization that the recommendations that have not been implemented are those that would address the systemic discrimination and misogyny faced by women, the recommendations that would impact significant numbers of Canadian women. The report of the Royal Commission was a stepping stone which brought women's issues into the public domain. Twenty years later we find that the substantive changes women need have not been addressed. We also find a systemic backlash that threatens our very modest gains. We do not need another Royal Commission to tell us what the problems are. We know the problems. We need action. And we need the energy to continuously place the feminist agenda out front ... loud and clear. (The report TWENTY YEARS LATER which assesses and discusses the status of each of the Royal Commission's 167 recommendations may be obtained from the office of Dawn Black MP, NDP Status of Women critic, House of Commons, Ottawa. IONA REFLECT ING RECOLLECT ING RE- COLLECT -ING Music composed/arranged for special occasions . . Jane Saunders . 807 475 9147 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 25 �CROSS CULTURAL FORUM ON INCEST/CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: SURVIVORS' PERSPECTIVES Women's Place, Kenora sponsored a cross cultural forum on the issue of incest and child sexual abuse from the perspective of survivors. The forum took place May 10th at Inn of the Woods with approximately 130 people participating. People attended from Fort Frances, Lac LaCroix, Dryden, most reserves within the Treaty 3 area, and from Kenora. There was representation from most service agencies including mental health workers, police, alcohol counsellors, community health reps, crown attorney's office and other groups and individuals working on the issue. The purpose of the forum was to enable service providers to hear the perspective of and experience of survivors as a basis for discussion of a community response to the problem. Presenters were Brenda Daily, coauthor of 'The Spirit Weeps: Characteristics and Dynamics of Child Sexual Abuse with a Native Perspective', and Julie Lee, executive director of Survival Through Friendship House in Goderich and the first woman in Canada, as an adult, to have her stepfather charged with his sexual abuse of her as a child. Brenda provided a historical perspective of the problem of child sexual abuse in native communities and discussed responses to the problem, barriers to treatment and the interrelationship of violence and substance abuse. Julie presented a feminist analysis of child sexual abuse and discussed models of service delivery from the perspectives of survivor and therapist. Both women delivered very personal and powerful presentations and the response from participants has been positive and encouraging. Friday the 11th was set aside for the individuals, groups and agencies to meet separately with the resource people to discuss their own concerns. This proved to be very successful and was very much appreciated by everyone who met with Brenda and Julie. There are about 25 individuals interested in meeting again and it is our hope that this will provide agencies/bands and survivors of abuse an opportunity for networking and discussion of follow up. WOMEN'S PLACE KENORA INCREASE IN FUNDING FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT CENTRES IN ONTARIO Reprinted from Women's Place Kenora Reprinted from Women's Place Kenora November 1990 November 1990 When Women's Place Kenora moved into our newly acquired home in November of 1987, we wondered how we would ever fill all the space. Well, in no time at all, we have found ourselves short of space - for our expanding library, the additional staff for the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre, for the numbers of women attending special events, and for the other women's groups now using our Centre for meetings, etc. In March, 1990 we presented a proposal to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, to construct an addition to our building. This addition will provide us with a large meeting room which can accommodate up to 50 people. We received notification of the approval of our Grant in October and Zeke's Carpentry was contracted to carry out the construction. The addition will also provide wheelchair accessibility to our Centre. The walls and the roof are up and there is hammering and sawing and measuring going on, and at this rate, the room should be available for use in In May of 1990, the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres and the Ministry of the Solicitor General arrived at an agreement regarding appropriate funding for Sexual Assault Centres in Ontario. The welcome increase in funding has allowed the Kenora Sexual Assault Centre to hire two and one-half staff persons. Bernice Connell and Charlotte Holm are Co-ordinators, and Brenda Duncan is our part-time bookkeeper. For the first time in fourteen years, we have been able to set up a yearly budget and to actually engage in planning of our program and activities rather than just responding on a crisis basis. The funding requirements have necessitated the Incorporation of the Sexual Assault Centre as a separate entity from Women's Place Kenora, which became an accomplished fact in September of 1990. Many thanks to the Kenora Community Legal Clinic, which assisted us in this effort. We appreciate the efforts of the Negotiating Committee of the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres who have represented us so well and worked very hard on behalf of all R.C.C.'s in Ontario, c a number of staff within the Ministry of the Solicitor General for strong support. As always, we also want to express appreciation to the many women who hay staffed our Crisis Line and served on our Board over the years, and to the individuals and organizations who have supported us in many ways. December. ************* ************************* During their annual meeting September 30, 1990, ONWA elected their 16 board members. Board of Directors Corinne Nabigon, president Leona Nahwegahbow, 1st vice president Michele Solomon, 2nd vicepresident Sue Anderson, secretary Dorothy Wynne, treasurer Northern region Board members Agnes Bachman Donna Leckner Willie Flamand Josie Necan Western region Board member Carol T. Desmoulin Connie Devall Eastern region Board member Andrea McGraw Alice Souliere Southern region Board member Suzi Anderson Nora Rhinelander Joan Simcoe « « « « « « « « « « « « « «« >>>> > >>>>>>>>> >> > > > > > > > > > > > *************************************** THE THUNDER BAY ART GALLER' AND THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD 01 CANADA PRESENT A FESTIVAL OF FEMINIST FILMS works by and about women Friday, January 11, 1991 8pm at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery Five Feminist Minutes - a collection c sixteen eclectic five-minute films directei by female artists from across the country Five Feminist Minutes spans all filr genres, from animation to documentary Including: New Shoes by Ann Marie Fleming. , self-referential film that also deals wit the exploitative and manipulative natur of documentary filmmaking, and th arbitrary limits this medium imposes its subjects. We're Talking Vulva by Shawn Dempsey. A rock video with a life-sizec dancing, rapping vulva shopping fc groceries, working on a construction sitE and toboganning in the snow. Rhea by Angele Gagnon. A film the examines the definitions of womyn an OUR LITERATURE MST BE VISIONARY, A LITERATURE OF CHANGE THAT MIMS ALL ASPECTS OF OUR LIVES earth as providers of life - definition imposed on them by a patriarchs society. PDF compression, Northern Woman OCR, Page 26web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �I Am nose I am a deep AiveA bedded on Aock a. existen ce manic-depessive petals who knom what subteAtanean stuams have kept me undiminizhed what magic 4ittets o4 the isout stitt wo bowt. WoweAL and thonns in socketax. submenged that givethxeaten as they - keeps me toying In4inite and Indesttuctabte I hotd the seed o6 the wonid in my tebettious Betty only I know the sttength o4 the de.stAoyeA that steeps in my cuttents onty I know how much I would tisk to dnown. viota z 0.47(Z 4ot acaecu4ated Inch wAitten by GeAt Beadle (!on the InteAnationat Women's Yeat Ptanning Seminat, Novembet 1974) The solistice is the outermost Limit of die sun's rays upon universe. And, in these winter months it provides us Long nights and chilling air. The spirits bless us with this very special tying to gather fueL and Light; And critically to give warmth to others, the deep warmth of women in friendship. This is not a dark, mysterious tyme; tut rather it is a balance. A tyme of neither tight nor dark, but a blending twilight, Holding the power of aLL that has been and can be. 'it is nature's den-it-ut that we revountze her balance; And that we Fiend into the twilight. A simple thought: to take tying to cleanse; to renew; and to dun* the spirits and Goddesses who guide us. And perhaps, just nutybe, to thank the special f fiends who keep us in care. May Mother truth and The Spirits "Ness us rya-9 One"; And Likewise. 4c_ A km jPappp s,ohitire front Portbern Woman lournat PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 27 �OUR COMMENTS ABOUT THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL.. .. the Journal I can speak only to the future and pledge my support for the kind of free thinking that justifies any feminist publication. future issues is doing a great perhaps it would job. In interesting be to reprint articles written collective m members by past with name original printing. and d ate of It might di scouraging also be on that i ss ue. if there has been no progress ... I think we should feel free to print more radical material in order to further challenge "our readers" to examine their relationship with reality and mainstream ... som etimes is an exciting we need To continue ... The Journal publication.part of it...writing, sobering to be paste up. more womenyes, even illustrations, ti life. ... I hope you keep working as a collective, and I look forward to seeing you in print for the next 20 years at least. ... others go under, others rely on outside money. The journal is pretty unique. So is Margaret. co, on ern r,4 6 K'iWk spirit born I feel there has been a new glad I'm born here at the N.W.J. and I'm celebrate in this new birth. I plan to exercise a strong commitment, and and contribute to keeping this spirit alive helping watch it grow. journa .. the Journal seems vision, to have its spunk, have lost its its things like spellin to small purpose I don't know of the the Journ al now. feet and struggles It drags its end result hardly to be published, seems worth Either a Renaissance but the the effort! ... , * 4'e : or demise ., ; is in order. "Kon'Aern jc,...nar the process and the I enjoy the people, what could the And oh, commitment! more of us? if there were Journal be ... ... qr.,_ 24m4,7. --- I am proud of you. it is am were times would not there are a Good work ... .., the journal has seen many changes but I think this is good. Evolution should be part of revolution. Keep the blood flowing and stay alive! Northern Woman Page 28 the Journal is of enormous importance in my life. I'll do almost anything to keep her alive. ... PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Wand Class Mall Ileilstratlan Ns. 5691 MAIL TO: RETURN TO: THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. BOX 144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 Return Postage Guaranteed IS THERE AN ASTERISK ON YOU11JABEL?? PLEASE RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Don't forget to renew your SUBSCRIPTION NAME ADDRESS POST AL CODE $ 6.00 Individual Institutional $12.00 Collectively produced NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4V5 DEBBIE BENNIE, RAE ANNE HONEY, MARGARET JOHNSTON, NANCY LYONS, MARGARET PHILLIPS, JANE SAUNDERS, JOSIE WALLENIUS. Nor+ielern Woman Marnat PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 13 No 1-2 Description An account of the resource Vol. 13, No. 1&2 (December 1990) Title: Northern Woman Journal: Celebrating 17 Years Topics include: NWJ Herstory Faye Peterson Transition House Crisis housing Herstory Canadian women’s calendar Misogyny of ‘experts’ List of contributors to the journal throughout the years Collective members’ memories of the journal NWJ involvement in feminist issues & services throughout the years Feminist publishing in Canada Feminist movement in Canada Bios of contributors to NWJ NDP and women Northern Women’s Bookstore Children’s Law Reform Act Healthsharing Poetry Childcare crisis Provincial childcare Oka standoff Public education grants Resources for northern women Status of Women Report Cross-cultural forum on incest/child sexual abuse: survivors’ perspectives Feminist film festival Women’s Place Kenora Sexual assault centres Ontario Authors/contributors: Gert Beadle Lynette Rich Arja Lane Joyce Ann Michalchuk Jane Northwestern Ontario Women’s Decade Council Josephine Mandamin Viola Nikkila Ontario Women’s Directorate Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-12 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2823/1991_Vol_13_No_3.pdf 2dc72c3bef16c69591f9c95c2163fdde PDF Text Text PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �n RONNIES' BED & BREAKFAST ("EDITORIAL deli` al 0 Iff /r Located in downtown Montreal in a quiet luxurious setting, offering first-class accommodation for women traveling on business or pleasure. Includes European Continental Breakfast. 783 rue Guy, Montreal, Quebec 1-131 1T6 Tel./Fax (514) 939-144 Rhona Luber Cantor, Proprietor same the speaks Homophobia language as racism, sexism and The language of classism. Fear which feeds on fear. myths, ignorance and blatant As women try to educate lies. Dear Northern Woman Journal, "the world" about feminism we often skim over or try to hide the contributions and concerns When we do that of lesbians. Congratulations on your 17th anniversary. A friend from the me sent Bay Thunder was I copy. anniversary surprised as I thought that you we are allowing the world in general and women in particular to ignore the driving forces of had disappeared. I've really enjoyed every issue that I've read as the articles and poems are all by women speaking from the heart. I just wish that I still lived in Thunder Bay to be a part of the collective. I moved to Southern Ontario after finishing high school. Please find enclosed a lesbian and gay energy behind so many of our social movements AIDS activism, feminist - activism and peace activism. NORTHERN WOMAN may bring some light to We this issue of homophobia. safe and are starting small readers. feminist with our Please carry it on. This issue of the cheque for $50.00. a This is for 2 year subscription as well as a donation. Keep up the good work. You are important to women such as myself who live in large cities but feel isolated from other feminists. Stephanie Holbik rise each morning like a warrior rubbing and soaking and pounding this dead body into life I brush my dentures and assault box in my living room thusly All right you bastards what have you done with my world while I was asleep invariably it has an answer there is no end to mans ability to defecate on the air that he allows a sister to report his nonsense we may call progess but we know whose crap it really is. This morning the subject is morality good fellows all killing in his name eternally let the congregation rise for george or bear the sting of the wimping unbeliever They who know what is best for the slow of wit, the uninformed and mentally lazy will soon close the bag on all dissent We are now under surveilance by a fatuous ferret of conception politics an egg sucking weasel with a loaded brownie invading the hen house of pro-choice making off with our idea of human rights These little voices from the father connection is at the root of his presumed divinity in his infinitesimal contribution of sperm to world affairs and moral superiority That some of our more regressive hens support this silly illusion is a sure sign that the days of kissing the old rod lingers still in our consciousness but this too shall pass. I Gert Beadle March 8, 1991 Northern Woman Page 2 Understudy Mom teaches us to iron shirts well. This is how she prepares us for the future And to fold towels, that's important too. Love, careers, travel, they're lost discussions, a way to waste time while she teaches us to bake bread. Rodene Zimmer Construction Site Enter at your own risk. Watch for lewd men tossing loud, indecent offers. If one lands your way, do not smile but keep walking like you heard nothing but hammers blows. Rodene Zimmer PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �ONE IN FOUR by Nancy Lyons situation, I'm "one in four', or is it really one in three or one in two ... do we really know? When I finally acknowledged that I am a survivor of child sexual abuse I began the process of understanding the after effects of the abuse. Until recently I convinced myself that the abuse did not have any affect on my life. I did not want to acknowledge we spent a good part of our what happened to me as a child, nor did I want to believe there were any repercussions. For me to accept that it had affected my life I would first have to acknowledge that had it happened. This fact tormented me, haunted me and confused me all my memorable life. The denial and shame kept me quiet, until the abuse after effects influenced my life to the extent that the old survival techniques stopped working. It was then that I sought counselling, and with the support, knowledge and understanding of my therapist, coupled with the support of my partner, the healing process began. With this, I found the strength to begin to understand the after effects of the abuse. My personal story is not very different from many, many other survivors' stories. The abuser's name changes, so does the age when it began, location of__ abuse, degree of a What remains constant is that as survivors etc. lives simply surviving, not only the abuse, but the horrific after effects. I was born the youngest of five children and raised in a middle upper class family on the East Coast. Though I do have many fond memories of my childhood and young adult life, I remained very frightened deep inside. So frightened that I could not show my fear to anyone. From as far back as I can remember I have had a difficult time trusting people. I always wanted just one friend who would devote her time, and commit herself to the friendship. However I was never able to trust anyone enough to tell them of this shameful secret until I was 25 years old. The silence was finally broken. And gradually I have continued to echo my story beyond all shameful boundaries. For all those wasted years I was shamed silent by my brother, 9 years my senior. His perversion began when I was 4 years old. It progressed like wild weeds in a garden robbing are all working for fundamental goals - to make women conscious of their own role in society as a human being, a social being. We see the women's movement not as an isolated struggle, but as a struggle that comes together I am very happy to know that We have five different areas of work: training; research; communication; projects; and the legal area. In training we organize workshops, seminars, educational events, and to Training and Development, and I am in charge of projects. The Women's Institute is a nongovernmental organization... myself, just enough to get it stopped. I was 13 years old. In recent years I have put most of the pieces of my life back together, which now just requires a little fine tuning. I have laid down my weapons. The war for me is over. In my life I now strive for peace with my self, knowing I'm trying to be the best that I can be. My thoughts remain with so many women, the women who, at no fault of their own, remain silent. We need to join hands and stand together, for together we can pull each other up to our feet and use support as our backbone. I feel like I will always need some support, but as the healing process progresses I find new strength and I'm able to stand a little longer on my own. I was 12 years old, though I wanted desperately to be 20 years old. I thought that if I We are thirteen women and we Women's Institute for Research, body and mind. With this ammunition I found the strength and courage to stand up for way to break free. By this time Recently the Global Awareness Project sponsored the visit to Thunder Bay of Blanca Coto of Instituto de Investigacion, Capacitacion y Desarrollo de la Mujer of El Salvador and Miriam Avalos of the Centre for Cooperation with El Salvador (Ottawa) The following remarks were made by Blanca Coto at a public meeting. means to Latin America, to El Salvador. I work for the the war of abuse against my my rich innocence on its way. Then in a dream I discovered a WOMEN -I- SOLIDARITY are there people here organizing events that will clarify what real independence began acting older. I started smoking, drinking and pretended I had a steady boyfriend. These soon became my weapons to fight with men for changes of the whole society. munn POWER people who went out of El Salvador as refugees, who left the country because of the war, and who now are coming back. This is a heavily populated area and a conflicted area. The two children's centres that we have don't just provide child care, they also provide other assistance such as psychological and medical use the method of popular education. In communication we publish documents, pamphlets, assistance, as well as retraining for school. But the main objective of the centre in the urban area is to provide a service to those women who are already involved in the women's organizations so that this will allow them to be participants. There are families that are in so that this area becomes organize all these events we a great need of these services when I say non-governmental I want to make it clear that we supportive area for training. In the area of research we are not having any funding from the government of El Salvador. organize the analysis of social conditions. We have two projects that benefit children. One Children's Development Centre in San Salvador and one in the rural area of because they already are participating in the popular organizations. We are a women's organization, a women's institute, we are not a mass organization. We are an institute that supports women's mass organizations. Chantanago. This rural centre is in a re-populated area.. Another project is Women's Place... a house where women can meet. We are very proud that the celebration of International Women's Day happened in this house this Northern Woman Page 3 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �We are very satisfied that that happened because it means we really are accomplishing our objectives for the opening of this house. year. that the present ruling party is one of the extreme right. On March 6, a woman who is one of the members of the opposition parties, was shot twice in the face. As a result Another project that we started is the Centre for Assistance to she lost her left eye and her face was disfigured. At the Salvadorean women. We have three different types of assistance: legal assistance; psychological; and emergency aid for women who are victims of violence. This is an integrated approach because in time this was happening she was making her political campaign, 'and those responsible were activists of the ruling party. This happened even while we had international observers from Salvador, El Central in America, we cannot talk about the Organizationn of American States. After the activist from the ruling party did this just providing legal assistance to women. Our approach is an approach that considers the reality of El Salvador. When to the woman the vehicle of the armed forces came to the place a woman is captured, just for When observers form O.A.S. came participating, for standing for her rights, they don't just need the legal assistance, they may also need psychological treatment. When a woman is captured they go through rape, torture, and a lot of human rights abuses. So we have to the site of these events taken approach this consciously.. these three same woman. providing services to the As well, in cases of of domestic violence we take the same approach. When a woman comes to our centre because of domestic violence she may be coming to get a but we know that before we start talking to the divorce, lawyer, we have to make sure that she knows what she wants for herself. So this is basically- what our institute is involved in, but to understand the context in which women's situation takes place we can look at violence to understand. where this happened and also dropped two tear gas bombs. that Canadian politicians have already recognized that these were not legitimate elections. It was a fraud. infantry brigade (a governmental army). The response of the government was that they were going to put a demand against_ the Catholic church for defammation.. for telling this. The n.g.o. human in El rights organization Salvador also took the same stand and accused the first this brigade with infantry 50 women between the ages of 18-28 as political prisoners, forms: violence; social violence and We see domestic violence. social violence as that which educational from comes patterns, from advertisements through televison that uses women as sexual objects, also within the curriculum of the from system... educational religion that promotes women's and 32 more women over 28 years of age. One specific case that like to denounce would I an example of publicly as last government violence.. March 10 we have elections for the legislative of members assembly and for the mayors of different cities. We have two subordination, violence which opposition comes from the law (for example article 182 of the civilian law to husband the authorizes prevent his wife from going to work if he provides the income The other for the family). participating violence that we find is the violence that happens within parties these in elections. I have to mention But this situation the case. to courage us the gives for struggle our continue I must point out democracy. that as a women's institute we already have two members of the institute that were either physical psychological violence violence. Government violence, institutional violence is that the government from coming The president and founder of our institute was captured and assassinated in 1989, the same time as the through the security forces, and that happens to both men and women, to those men and jesuit priests were killed. In the same year the woman in charge of communication was women who are struggling for a their for society, better captured, the home.. or rights. This violence happens because people are already organized. Just to give Northern Woman .1P4ge_A you some parties This happening on March 6 was not an isolated incident.. starting in January we've had 15 people.. 8 women and 7 men .. killed, and 25 children were left orphaned. Even the Catholic Church recognized that it was the responsibility of the first government/institutional different opposition) and the govern will continue to build tow peace in the country. Wi the legislative assembly we have representatives of opposition parties. Th another place where opposi ( thing) action with the peasants.. so they had to recognize that was statistics... in 1990 we have El We hope that the negoia process that is taking p between the FLMN (the a they witnessed the results of the bombs. Within this framework we cannot talk about democratic elections. We have to mention a very important Salvador we classify violence against women in three In GABRIELA assassinated. tortured and All of these assassinated. acts of violence against women have given us the to were all theycourage live, and popu organizations can pressure government and the FLMN to agreements towards pe Because we believe that wa not the way to reach peace But, unfortunately, war been necessary in order to these negotiations taking p Women are now. 51% of population. So we as women now the ones that have mos' the 1r esponsibilities in society since we have been alone.. when our husbands, partners, have gone away join the guerillas, they lost their jobs... they just gone far away from ] ] 1. have to solve problems of education, 1.j.' household... conditions, the things related to family we are the ones tal And bec care of that now. we are 51% of the poulatioi responsibility the have We have to participate. and responsibility the So we 1 conscious of the needs of country. We cannot separate women children. We : have opportunity to prove what are saying when we organ: the children's peace camp We have fifty chile from different sectors... communitj marginalized on live children that streets, children coming year. the repopulated areas, chile from the conflicted areas We have t] the country. themes.. your place and 1 whom you live (we can no lo: talk about family); childr( And ii rights; and peace. see to painful very children have al re When asked them to draw where internalized war. ma: continue and it serves as a motivation to us to continue continued pg 14 our work. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �PROCESS TO NOWHERE? I wrote it because I needed to for my sanity. I wrote it because I believe fear by Josie Wallenius The women's centre in Thunder Bay was the only place in town to place a continual anti-war statement on their premises, prior to, and after, the U.S. strike on Iraq. The 24 hours preceding the U.S. strike, groups of people protested outside the revenue buildings of Thunder Bay, calling attention to our complicity in the war machine by our payment of taxes towards the Canadian weapons manufacture of the high tech weaponry that was going to be tested. Going of "the irrational other" is deeper in our society than even white supremacy. I wrote it because Patriarchal capitalism keeps on going because they, the white Patriarchs, have socially conditioned the white Western population to not UNDERSTAND Imperialism, to not FEEL Imperialism, i.e. they have effectively cut off the head of the West from the bodies of the South and East, so while the wars in our name are being waged to genocidal proportions against the Third World, we "still carry on as usual." to be tested on Third World people once again. The day before the strike we had a lot of positive honks on horns, a lot of smiling faces from car windows. The day after the strike, the day when Pres. Bush's policy of "supporting the troops to suppress domestic opposition" had begun, the mood swung. Another woman and myself, alone with the banners outside the tax buildings, had one particular insult flung at us from a passing car with a couple of youths in it. "SLUTS", they shouted. We, as white women, had been identified doubly as "the other". It is because of this that. I find this story strangely and disturbingly appropriate for Northern Woman Journal the Issue about homophobia. Remember the "Handmaid's Tale." Remember how Atwood describes our roles as breeders, which is the focus of her book, i.e. white women. Do you remember how she briefly describes the "other places" (Third World) as almost dead places. If we are going to stop this process already in motion, one has I would think, to understand the process. From my research, Iraq was set up as long ago as two years for this Western Imperial strike. The domestic control and command is at present of course the pacification of the west with propaganda. After I wrote this story I "just happened" onto a book abcut-magic_ a_t__ said_ that the pineal gland, known as the third eye, still functions in lizards. It is the seat of knowledge. So maybe its not so much our bodies are severed from our heads, but we need to get our third eye open. I dunno. But I FEEL its time to throw some spanners in the works, and not hide behind rocks, pretending what is going on is not going on. James Petras is coming to our town to explain the NEW WORLD ORDER and Linda was doing the poster. Today I went round to her house to collect it. Linda has pneumonia, but she certainly looks better than she did yesterday when I had taken the graphics of Brian and George around. Probably using scissors round their faces had made her feel better. They do say the body is connected to the head, don't they?... I had a good laugh when I saw how Linda had set up the faces around the NWO then sat down to read a potign I had written on the way driving to town. I usually have a pad and pencil around for when things get too much. "I am walking around dead people with their bodies severed from their laughing heads. They wear T-shirts saying they won't join in unless They can dance, While I'm wondering whether you fox-trot or tango, When you blow up a bridge." I hear a silence. I hear Linda not being impressed at all, and wait. "What are you on about. You love dancing, I love dancing, what do you MEAN?" "Well, I've had some funny things happen this last 24 like feel I and hours, spitting." "So spit, but explain the process." Casting my mind back 24 I Now when Gillian said this had a terrible desire to giggle. I know Gillian meant it head, in fact I was sorry for us all, as I knew her myself and had thought her body was sincerely, but then Gillian's body is attached to her head. For the rest, I could just see all the laughing heads breathe attached. Then I went to see another was I thought woman who attached up. She said they were great sigh of relief that moving from the apartment to a small house with a garden, so I said, "I have just heard they women deathsquadding are herbalists in the Philippines." a they wouldn't have to cross the road any more when they saw me coming. Then I left Gillian to see another woman to tell her about This women said, "Why?" and I nearly fell over as I was sure she had understood. I'd been explaining for the last 3 years to this woman and it had made not one wit. 'Still a laughing head. So I was pretty depressed hours, I began. "I was talking to Gillian yesterday, and I told her that I thought I was going to go mad because everything was carrying keep People usual. as on shuddering, but they just won't James Petras, and this woman told me that her close friend had been upset about that bomb going off in London, England. I asked this woman if her friend's upsetness has been I think we have to blow because the bomb had not got bridge or two to make John Major, and she got annoyed and I drove home, stopping on people stop." Gillian put her hand over mine. "Josie, you know we have to wait. We have to wait until people are ready. If you try by blow might you yourself and what good yourself up, would that do anybody. We'd miss you." with me. She told me that any the way back at the Thunder Bay Memorial Society to pick up the forms to ensure that if my old man and I kicked the bucket, no home was corporate funeral going to have a rip-off at our dead expense. stop. up a fool could see why SHE was because her was It upset. friend was upset about it going off in London, England. So I told her I was really sorry for her sake that her friend was still a laughing PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �After we had dinner my old and I sat down at the words on the first page. The women in the village had been "Because it will be ju more business as usual. Ju kitchen table to fill in the forms. If you want some down news with the terrified coverage of the bombing of Iraq. In this village they have flying helicopters military overhead as a matter of course, just like at OKA, but the women another meeting to organise. see can just it. Peop staggering in carrying the I.V. poles, when they should wanted to know if they were going to be the next to be home watching birds..." Linda began to laugh. "O.K. What do you want we stand on the bridge a back to OKA. remember remember if it hadn't been f AIM we would never had held t bridge up. I would like you chuck my ashes over the brid man time with your companion, fill in your memorial forms. I wrote in my name and address and so forth, ticked off the box marked cremation, then came to the memorial bit. I pondered awhile. I decided to put my friend Allen's name down as someone to say a few words about me. Allen has his body so much attached to his head he can't get a letter to ed. in the paper any more. bombed. So my friend got out a map of the world and showed them Arabia and Saudi Iraq and Kuwait. Then she showed them the U.K. and North America and South America. Then they could were the bombs where see Also he can sing a good dropping and where they were Then came the bit about not dropping. Then my friend wrote that ashes the women have to line up for scattered, and I did not have to think too hard about that. I wrote, "Pigeon River Bridge, Pigeon River, Lake Superior." It was like writing somebody's cooking oil since the Gulf War, song. where you want your address. Then I looked at my old man's form and I noticed he wanted his ashes scattered at the same address, so I smiled. I knew why he had written the same address. Not for more down time together, but because we good something had done together at that bridge. We had been with an AIM (American Indian Movement) action that had closed the bridge for 3 hours at the OKA time. We had stopped the "business as usual" till the fire hoses came. Then I'looked at his form again, and saw he had left the memorial part blank, and the form looked kind of clean in its blankness. I always know what my old man means by his silences, so I wasn't about to comment on this one. We went to bed. The next day, and that is today as I tell this, I got up and had coffee then went to get the mail. After skimming over the crap, I sat down with a pearl. A letter from a friend. She works in Peru. I saw the Northern Woman Page 6 and that sometimes they can't get it at all. She said one of the women had said there is no difference in dying from hunger than bombs, and what by the way does GULF mean? added my friend Then something of her own. She said that I had been right a few years ago when I had said that the head of the first world had been severed from the body of the third. It's on the map. So it was this letter that got me trying to write the poem, but I guess I'm going to have to work at it if I really want the laughing heads to understand. I paused, and walked to the window to watch the birds. I felt glad upon gladness that I had friends like Linda and Gillian and Allen, or mad I would certainly be. Another thought struck me, and I turned again to Linda. "I've decided to have a blank space on my memorial form." "Why?" having down time with the companions, or be staying onto the ice, and I hope it not too windy as they wi probably fly back in your fac and I want you to say as y throw them over, "Revolution death, and here goes the ash of a woman who was too fucki frightened to blow up bridge." I paused and reflecte conditioning sti the o like a worn working computer disc in my brain. "N don't add the last bit. all might guilt people out to something they are not ready do, and we must not do tha must we?" So then Linda, with h body attached to her head ever, really laughed. "Josi you're really mad. When scatter your ashes over t bridge it will be while t bridge is being blown up." As Linda said this I fe something happening to me. J was rising up through the flo and through my body. It w really surging thidugh. I myself suspended in air ov the Pigeon River border bridg looking at all the steel a concrete flying out over t: ice, and watching this group women, not even bothering run. They were lying in t snow and they were laughir and they all had their bodi attached to their heads. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �NATIONAL CAMPAIGN HUMAN RIGHTS QUESTIONS Dear Friends, We seeking are writing to you your support on an issue of profound importance and urgency. thousands of Hundreds Canadians of who happen to be lesbians or gay men are too often victims of discrimination, harassment and violence. We are asking for your support in seeking equality, not special rights but equal rights, by writing to Justice Minister Kim Campbell, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and your own Member of Parliament, urging them to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in Canada are not seeking special rights - only the right to be treated with the same equality, dignity and respect as all other Canadians. Five years ago a special all party Parliamentary committee urged the federal government to take this action. Until the federal law is changed it remains legal to fire a person from his or her job, deny them housing or access to services, solely because of the fact that they happen to be a lesbian or a gay man. Over four years later we are still waiting for our government to keep their promise; ven if you have already written to any of us or to the government in the past, please do so again now. This is an issue of fundamental justice that is of concern not just to the community of lesbians and gay men, but to all Canadians. Please speak out. Your voice, our voices raised together for equality and justice, will make a difference. Sincerely yours, Q: Why should gays and lesbians be given special legal protection? AND ANSWERS A: They shouldn't. Inclusion of sexual orientation in the Canada Human Rights Act would change it? Most experts agree by that the role played in sexual personal choice not provide special protection for gay men, lesbians or bisexuals. Such an amendment orientation is marginal. In any also is event, religion protected in the Canadian Hum-n Rights Act and in large measure a product of choice, so the would simply discrimination prohibit against homosexuals so that they will enjoy the same civil rights as argument is worthy of little weight. other Canadians. Q: But don't lesbians and gay men already have the same civil rights as other persons? DISCRIMINATION EXAMPLES OF BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION No. There is significant evidence of discrimination A in a lesbian supervisory position was told by her boss A: against lesbians, bisexuals and gay men in such areas as services, employment and that her lesbianism be kept should hidden so that it could not be used against her. housing. The law does not now provide any remedy to persons who are, for example, fired or denied services because of their sexual orientation. A woman who Wouldn't the amendment lead the recruitment of young people by gays and lesbians? Q: to There is no evidence that A: ran a convenience store in a small Canadian town, and who had several received awards of merit from had her employer, contract h e r gay men, bisexuals or lesbians "recruit" young people. Sexual orientation is generally believed to be established at infancy._Theeffortsof_thegay. and lesbian community have been terminated when her learned employer that she lesbian. was a lesbian directed to meeting the need Many for social and emotional support of persons who are lesbian or gay and who therefore face widespread within and develop activists many skills during volunteer activities for the community are they unable to state on discrimination in Canada. lesbian which But immoral? resumes for fear of Q: isn't homosexuality being denied employment. In a pluralistic society such as ours, it is inappropriate to allow the specific claims of any A: particular religious text to Dawn Black, MP New Westminster-Burnaby dictate the moral standards of the community. Svend J Robinson, MP Burnaby-Kinsway Q: But people who choose to be lesbian or gay shouldn't get legal protection. Dear Friends, I am writing to ask you to take the time to add your voice to mine and that of Svend and all of my fellow New Democrat A: If you are heterosexual, when did you "choose" that orientation and how easy would it be for you to "choose" to caucus colleagues in urging the government to keep its March promise to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientations. As federal leader of the New Democratic Party I am proud of our record of support for full equality for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in Canada. And as the Member of Parliament for the Yukon Territory I'm also particularly pleased that the New Democratic government has amended our human rights legislation to prohibit such discrimination 1986 and recently became the first government in Canada to extend benefits in the public sector to same sex partners. Justice Minister Kim Campbell will soon introduce a package of amendments to the Canadian Human Rights. It is gay men but to all Canadians. It is time that the federal government made this promise a reality for those who happen to be lesbians, gay men or bisexuals. Thank you for your support. essential that you send in letters. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms promises equality Sincerely yours, to all Canadians. This is an Audrey McLaughlin, MP issue Leader of the New Democratic fundamental justice that is of concern not just to of Party the community of lesbians and Northern Wothan Page 7 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �IT'S SIMPLY LOVE The following is excerpted from an address on lesbian and gay awareness presented by Nancy Gildner and Lynn Beak at a March 1991 service of the Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship, Thunder Bay. "We affirm the dignity and worth of every human being." "I sin if I submit to the indignities that are hurled at me. I am a guardian of the divine dignity and it is my duty to defend it." - Zulu Chief Albert Luthuli Nobel Peace Prize Winner (1960) flourishing study group which is working through started: We are all sexuallyThose who oriented beings. opportunities also have think back on our own expert ces, to become aware of dee: embedded organizing princip in our lives, and to exam the Unitarian Universalist (UU) "Welcoming Congregation" program. ... Today we'd like to cast some light on this program and What is the Welcoming ask ... Congregation Program? Why did it come into being? And why is it important to us here at LUF? locate themselves in the heter- ideas which never seemed osexual majority often do not allow us to be as open, lov and well-integrated as we wa ed to be. For instance, we mil NG: One of the newest elements on the landscape here at the Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship (LUF) is a I think most of us here are fondly familiar with the beautiful set of affirmations which currently serve to convey the essence of our shared and ever-evolving faith. We affirm without hesitation "the inhere- nt worth and dignity of every person." From this, affirming "justice, equity'and compassion in human.,-relationships" seems to follow effortlessly. It may come as a surprise, then, to learn that within this lovingly and laudably constructed atmo- sphere there is a significant group of Unitarians, continentwide, who have expressed the pain of feeling unaffirmed, unwelcomed and unsupported by their Unitarian communities. I am referring to lesbians, gay and their families and friends who have begun to point between inconsistencies out (UU) Universalist Unitarian principles and the facts of their own lived experience. They are asking the entire fellowship of UU adherents to exmen, amine their roles, whether through acts of commission or omission, in creating an environment where gays and lesbians still do not feel safe enough to live openly and wholly. The Welcoming Congregation program was developed to respond to the deeply-felt need for congregations to become genuininknowledgeably and ely clusive. The aim of this volu- ntary program is to provide a forum wherein congregations can begin to explore issues such as the inclusivity, homophobia, nature of sexual orientations, and the anatomy of oppression, replacing myths with facts, stereotypes with human profile- obliviousness with awareness, and inertia with resolve s, and action.... Since the Welcoming Congregation program's aim is to generate solutions, perhaps we Northern Woman Page 8 should spend a little time examining the problem.... Here's an objective fact to get us recognize that they are "orien- ted" at all, or that there is any other way to be than heterosexual. In fact, though, studies conducted since the middle of this century have shown that human sexuality is arranged along a fluid continuum so that individuals may identify themselves as exclusively heterose- reconsider the sacred cow Should we acci "normalcy". that "the majority" defi: what is "normal".If we do, t] clearly homosexuality is abnl mal and all manner of homophi is oppression enters the re, xual; to varying degrees able to be attracted to people of either gender (bisexual); or, of the rational and the apwith proximately 10% of the population, exclusively homosexual. seems flawed, will we work as is the case Most gay people report their sense that they have always been same-sex oriented, that they no more chose this orientation than a heterosexual person chooses to be straight. Psychology researchers confirm this testimony, pointing out that sexual orientation, while perhaps not recognized or acknowledged by any individual for several years, is probably set in the pre-school years, by the age of three or four.... Sexual orientation is analogous to eye colour, or right or left handedness, in that it is a and constitutive natural, value-neutral fact of a person's life. Extrapolating from our statistic that one person in ten is same-sex oriented, it is clear that in North America today, there are about 25 million gay or lesbian people, or approximately one gay or lesbian child in every five familSame sex orientation ies. knows no boundaries, so that ethnic, geographic, every socio-economic, religious, age and labour/professional group has its vital component of gay The chances are that people. every one of us knows, or loves, or works with a lesbian or gay person, whether or not we Lesbians and realize it.... gays are in fact thoroughly woven into every square centimetre of our society.... Though the Welcoming Congregation workshops will offer sociological, psychological, historical and anecdotal infor- mation in abundance, we will tifiable.... However, if this ji mo( be a genuinely pluralistic SI iety, where many norms ex: depending on different but qually valid contexts?... How prepared are we to don 1 mantle of the other and wa: however briefly, inside the skin, inside their soul, ins c very particular their cumstances? How shall we answer t] question about what is "norm, regarding sexual orientatil We could go the objective roi e, and listen to the researc] views of numerous internatio: medical organizations, such the American Psychiatric , 1, which have sociation, homosextlhl removed since from their official listings mental illnesses. (They po out, however, that treatment indicated for those suffer from homophobia, which Au Lorde defines as "the fear feelings of love for members one's own sex and therefore hatred of those feelings others.") That's where the prof But it is sionals stand. important that we listen to voices of gay and lesbian pe le on this issue of "normalc let's imagine for Better, moment that we are gay or 1 bian. From this vantage poi it is clear that the ultim abnormality is to try to fo oneself to live a lie, to bu one's relationships and cond oneself in the world as if were heterosexual. If we lesbian or gay, "normalcy" being affectionally orien towards people of our own ge er --- it is here that we f the truth that makes us who PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �But to have found this precious truth and yet to live in a society which demeans and negates, in every conceivable way, all their perversion. We can participate in a good laugh at their expense, though sometimes we, as members of this society, we feel a little guilty about formation. There's informatior that's absolutely incorrect, that is normal and balanced for it. one; which requires that one become complicit in one's own silencing in order to remain acceptable; which through in- When we arrive at acceptance, we have decided to live stitutional law, from the playground to Parliament, reinforces and validates only heterosexual couplings and family groupings; ... this, in the words of feminist philosopher Marilyn Frye, is "crazy-making". Is it any wonder, in light of this, that gay teenagers are three times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight classmates? The true wonder is that the vast majority of gay people, in spite of spending their lives battling insidious and overt discrimination, manage to be so well-adjusted. have been given since birth. There are two kinds of misin- and that speaks from a clear of their lifestyles, and certainly would not be happy if prejudice. There's also information that is exaggerated and is out of context and that allows prejudice to grow. one of our own children were to come out as lesbian or gay, but An example of the second kind will help. If an alien and let live. We don't approve we're willing to welcome gay and lesbian people to our church, provided not too many show up. After all, we don't want to be seen as "the gay church". It's OK by us if gays and lesbians hold positions of respon- sibility such as ministers or teachers, but they should not ask for "special privileges" such as civil rights or open acknowledgement. At the supportive stage, we may still have some internal came to this world, particular- ly in November (which is Ontario's wife assault prevention month), and looked at heterosexual relationships, it would say, "My god, all they do is commit wife assault!" because that is what the media reports. That's all you hear about. Now, because we live in a heterosexual community, we all have personal experience that allows us to mitigate that information and say "well, yes, it's true, in some relationships there is family violence, but Imagine a world in which your life appears only as a negaImagine that whenever you hear your life mentioned it is with a laugh or a sneer, in a whisper or an apologetic tone of voice. Imagine that you have lived with the person you love for years and have never heard - in school, on television, in popular films, in your family, in your religious community - your life and circumstances addressed, affirmed, or positively reflected back to tive. you. Imagine having to become bilingual in the language of families, because loving whom you love is seen as not legitimate love or life, like everyone else's. Imagine having to scour the language of your birth to create a language you can use with self- respect, because most of your culture denies -- and you are not certain, either -- that you have a right to the language. The language ascribes all the values, living skills, terms of affection, and descriptions of intimacy as belonging to someone else. Imagine having to call your life partner, your lover and husband, your helpmeet and mate, the passionate companion of your days with whom you fight and negotiate and make plans and create a life -imagine having to introduce this person as "my friend ". -excerpted from the article "Names" by Rev. Barbara Pescan which appears in "The Welcoming Congregation" that's not the whole picture." But when we don't have that personal experience of what the lives of gay and lesbian people are like, we do not know how to mitigate misinformation, that piece of information that is out of context in the media. One of the things that has concerned me for a long time is about how we as a society gain information. We have become very dependant on external sources of information. We don't trust our personal experiences. If we meet somebody from a group about whom we have a prejudiced view, and the person does not match our expectations, we can respond in one of two ways. "This person is an exception and all that I have heard is true", or "This person is the reality and I have tc The Welcoming Congregation resource book identifies stages by which we will be able to track our progress as we come to understand the nature of sexual and affectional orientations. Not everyone goes through all the stages, or spends the same amount of time at any stage, but generally speaking, the flow is from repugnancy and pity, through tolerance, acceptance and support, with the final arrival at affirmation. Which of these stages qualms left over from earlier stages, but we know that gays and lesbians deserve the same rights, dignity and respect as everyone else, and we're prepared to put our money where our mouth is, using inclusive language, refusing to participate in anti-gay jokes, and lending our support to measures to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, wherever it oc- We are taking steps to work through whatever blind spots still cause us difficulcurs. ty. rings personal bells for us? When we reach affirmation, Are we at the repugnancy stage? If so, we are intensely uncom- we embrace and rejoice in the unique gifts that lesbian and gay people bring to our community. We celebrate the relationships and families of our lesbian and gay friends, support and are supported by fortable with the notion of homosexuality. We see gays and lesbians as sick, perverted and immoral, people who are out to molest our children, people who attract our hostility and anti- gay slurs and who bring gaybashing on themselves. Perhaps we feel pity. As abnormal, maladjusted people, them, respect and are respected by them, love and are loved by them. ... gays and lesbians are assured of sad, difficult, debased livThey need our help. If we are tolerant, we admit that, whether we like it or not, lesbians and gays exist and always have. We know a few of "them" and put up with them es. as long as they do not flaunt I want to talk about the work of the Welcoming Congregation Committee since our start in October, 1990. We have been educating ourselves, trying to correct the misinformation that LB: base my beliefs on my personal experiences and not on what I'm hearing outside." We are trained in our schools and by the media not to trust our personal experiences, not to think from the inside out, not to say: "This is my experience, therefore this is true." We think: "Well, this is what's happened to me, it must be an exception, because it's not what everyone else is saying, it's not what everyone else is doing." That is something that we have lost, and have to regain: looking at prejudice is one area in whict I think we can start to regain the ability to validate our own personal experiences, to dray our conclusions and build our truths from our own personal knowledge and experiences. The Committee members have been looking at the information that we get. Generally, there is not much information about lesbian women in the media and therefore in some ways there is less stereotyping and more openness. For gay men, there has been much more information in the media, much more stereotyping, and therefore less room for openness. continued on next page.. Northern Woman Page 9 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �As the Committee proceeds, we are looking at the information that we have received. We are trying to develop from that base, and go from knowledge to awareness. At that stage we go from a cerebral understanding to a spiritual one, and that is when affirmation occurs. And affirmation and empathy are integral to each other. Confidentiality has been a critical issue for the Committee since the beginning. We need to provide safety within our Committee for those individuals who share information with us about their sexual orientation. There is jeopardy! Men and women still lose jobs, lose friends and lose tional method of behaviour control. I'm sure we've all ex- perienced it, often during the vulnerable teen-aged years. "Don't do that. Someone will think you're a ....". I will acting in roles that are considered appropriate for women. protection much too inadequate, and support from us, still developing, for us to be in a pos- ition to do more than support people where they are, anywhere on the continuum from complete secrecy to complete openness. We are learning not to It's derstand their situation better than we do. We must allow them to let us know where they are in their striving for openness and affirmation. We believe that,,-it is very important to expand this principle to the a way of keeping women one. In conclusion, I would like to thank the members of the Welcoming Congregation Committee for the growth that they are going through and continue to go through, and to celebrate the work that they are doing. Where do we in the LUF Because we have an open building, there will never be complete secrecy here. Anyone can walk in from the street. However, within this community, whom this whole subject is so it's very important to recog- deeply disturbing as to stir up feelings of revulsion, through people who feel reasonably neu- tral and just wish the whole issue would go away, to people that they are doing so within a religious community of which they are a member and from which they are hoping for un- who want to actively grow in their understanding and have not known how to embark on a project of awareness-raising. derstanding and affirmation. We must not gossip! People are much more willing to have their religious community know things about them than, for example, people at work. After all, this is Many of us know that our upbringing saddled us with a lot of homophobic baggage, and we want about them? That is one of the really critical issues for gay and lesbian people in a religious community is to be able to share the sense of community that everyone else here can share. One other lesson that the Committee has learned is that homophobia is an "invisible" You source of discrimination. can march in a civil rights to be rid of it. Or we know that our children are being fed a steady diet of homophobia in the schoolyard, and we want to learn tools to deal with it. I suspect that the Welcom- ing Congregation program has something to offer all of us, no matter where we locate ourselves. People who are plagued by fear and anger can look for those burdensome emotions to dissipate in the face of solid new information on sexual orientations, the roots of homophobia, and lots of other why's and wherefore's. Those who wonder why this should be an issue for us at LUF may be intrigued and appalled to learn that oppression impacts on the lives of people in all our cir- cles in the most fundamental parade and never worry about anyone thinking that you are ways. Recognizing how brutally gays and lesbians have been Similarly, men can talk excluded from other religious black. Northern Woman Page 10 pathize together, we will re gnize fellow travellers have been this way before who, finding themselves on h her ground, report that view is great. What might the fut hold?...We would hope that the level of awareness in t: Fellowship grows, we will demonstrate a commitment to use of inclusive language, sensitivity to lesbian and issues, to a refusal to p. gay or lesbian people, to rel gnize the committed relatil ships of lesbian and gay peo] . find them, regardless of sex' orientation. Perhaps this F( lowship will decide to dialo( with members of the gay lesbian community, both witl our Fellowship and beyond, learn what needs are most gent and how we might help fill them. We might sugg( forming a support group such 1 Parents and Friends of Lesbiz stand on the scale of welcoming and inclusivity? I would imagine that we have in this Fellowship a full spectrum of people, all the way from those for great pain, and if we can not talk about them here, why are we here and where can we talk Congregation program offer nurturing environment where can take risks safely. As read and discuss together, and to affirm displays of fection and caring wherever NG: passages, this is where we come to talk about those things which are giving us great joy and or company on an otherwise v solitary journey, the Welcom and lesbian rights, in and of itself, but also because in liberating them, we liberate ourselves, we liberate every- community at large within the where we come to share life's h ticipate in conversations so-called humour which demo Unitarian Fellowship. nize that when people share information with us about their sexual orientation, or about other issues that are personal, for those who It's a way of lessening each of our options, this fear of being seen as a homosexual. So not only is there an incredibly important reason to support gay challenge people to say more about themselves than they wish, to respect that they un- Finally, desired help, or affirmati tification has been a tradi- cannot require anyone to say anything more about their own sexual orientation than they Life is still too risky, ciples into tangible welcc sexual orientation is an in- their sexual orientation, so we choose. can take to translate our pr visible quality, people can be taken for homosexuals if they speak out. Fear of homosexual iden- let you fill in your own expression, but we've all heard it. It's a way of keeping men acting in roles that are considered appropriate for men. family members by disclosing communities, we may see t there are pro-active steps about women's rights and they don't change their sex. You do not have to take on the mantle of the oppressed person. However, because homophobia is so prevalent, and because your and Gays (P-FLAG) or a yoi group for young gays and 1( bians self-respect in their terri] ingly one-sided, heterosex: high school environments. There are so many benef: to be reaped in the process becoming a Welcoming Congrec tion. Beyond all the altru: tic considerations, we will able to revel in our own ev( increasing self-knowledge, in the sense that we have ta< led what has historically b( one of the most difficult fr< tiers in order to breathe 1: and spirit into our Unitar: Universalist Affirmations. will know that we have tal significant steps towards be: healing agents rather th through our silence, and insistence on silence, o/ cc pounding the problems fac b lesbians and gay men. _11 be enriched when the and lesbian people amongst feel the way cleared for t] to make their own special cl tributions as whole, un-se censoring people, to br their partners and families, < T 1 celebrate their unions, grieve the loss of their lo' ones. We will continue to vitalize and nurture this s] ritual home of ours when "celebrate the lives of people and their ways of pressing their love for 1 e. other."1 1. From the "Welcoming CI gregation" section of the CI mon Vision Planning Commit' Report, 1989. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Ontario Women's Directorate Direction generale de la condition feminine de ('Ontario GRANTS The following northern organizations have received community grants funding. Northwestern Ontario Women's Health Information Network $4,990.00 - to hold a workshop and develop a resource package to accompany a theatrical presentation for teachers and students focusing on sex-role stereotyping, positive body image and eating disorders. Equay-Wuk (Sioux Lookout) $24,000.00 - to conduct five regional workshops regarding the issue of Family Violence. Wequedong Lodge of Thunder Bay $7,905.00 - to translate and distribute the family violence video "New Beginnings". RESOURCE CENTRE Exciting things are happening in OWD's Northern Office We are in Resource Centre. the process of re-cataloguing all materials using ON-LINE CATALOGUE, a user friendly computer program. When the cataloguing is completed, you will be able to search by title, author or In time (and all subject. this will take time) we hope to have bibliographies available in print form. New acquired materials are: With the Power of Each Breath A disabled women's Anthology Susan E. Browne, Debsa Connors, Nanci Stern community conference to increase awareness of the violence issue. Little Red Reading Society $5,000.00 - to hold a lecture series by native women to encourage participants to acquire a post secondary education. Dryden Native Women's Resource Centre SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION MONTH is JUNE and WIFE ASSAU PREVENTION MONTH is NOVEMBER Information packages will be sent in the near future to community groups working wit and offering services to wom who have experienced male violence. When Battered Women Kill Reports on Wife Assault Ontario Medical Association Committee on Wife Assault Reclaiming Our Lives Hope for Adult Survivor of Incest Carol Postan and Karen Lison When You're Ready A women's healing from childhood physical and sexual abuse by her mother Kathy Evert VIDEOS Theatre's community outreach to high school students in Thunder Bay and several communities in the north with MIRROR GAME a play addressing violence in relationships. Talking Sense on receiving funding to build a new, larger and much needed shelter for women who experience male violence in their relationships. Ontario Women's Directorate will again offer grants for public education projects or the issues of wife assault and sexual assault. The Politics and Practice of Organizing Family Services Thiumikr. Bay $10.000.00 - to sponsor Magnus FAYE PETERSON TRANSITION HOUSE Issues. Social Movements/Social Change - to conduct a needs assessment of native women. to May 8, 1991 - New funding of $20.3 million to fight violence against women and t support women who have been assaulted was announced by Anne Swarbrick, Minister Responsible for Women's Northern Saskatchewan Metis Women speak out $8,000.00 CONGRATULATIONS 1991 In Our Own Words Angela Brown Begetikong Anishinabe-Queck (Heron Bay) $6,000.00 - to hold a two day WIFE ASSAULT/SEXUAL ASSAULT INITIATIVES - Video aimed at parents, teachers and other adults working with teens. Talking Sex COMING EVENTS A series of workshops of interest to women will highlight a conference presented by the Steering Committee for Women with Disabilities. The workshop: are: Health Management Options, Violence Against Women with Disabilities, Self Image and Self Esteem Sexuality, Parenting with a Disability and Health, My Care and the Medical Profession. Conference begins with registration Friday evening May 24, workshops on Saturd May 25 and the plenary on Sunday May 26. Call Susan Ward, co-ordinat at 345-6157 for more information. - Video aimed at teens (13-14) (14-15) and (16 and older). These videos are available in French and English; produced by Ontario Women's Directorate. This page is sponsored by the Ontario Women's Directorate. The material contained on it may be photocopied and distributed without permission, but with credit t the original source or the Ontario Women's Directorate. Northern Woman Page PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �The following are excerpts from a brief to the Select Committee on Ontario in Confederation, presented by Leni Untinen, on behalf of the Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council. The tragedy of this situation is that we will have lost by default. that Not as we, a society tried and could not, but because we have forfeited our chance. We too often have allowed elected our resentatives all authority and all responsibility. And those to whom we have given power have tried to "protect" us from dealing with decisions by Canada enters the 1990's at the crossroads of Confederation and Provincial Sovereignty. To the citizens of Ontario these are and confusing threatening, Q.motional times. It is interesting to imagine that 50 years from now, circumstances, information and decisions which seem so complicated today, may be captured on a page or two in history. A frightening prospect is how the perception of this decades history will be recorded. Will the chapter read, "in the eleventh hour 'the dice were rolled', behind closed doors? After 124 years of Confederation, leaders of the country and provinces were unable to negotiate outstanding Constitutional accord issues, before a 'deadline' agreed upon late one night in the kitchen of the government centre at Meech Lake. And so the nation of Canada began a process to dismantle." Will historians write that Canadians were unable to respond to its Aboriginal peoples wants? or was it their needs? or was it their legal rights? Will it be recorded that Quebec made stringent demands because of their "unique qualities" or because of their arrogance or because of a fear of assimilation based on Canada's record of assimilating the Aboriginal seeking to impose solidarity not understanding. The ability to make appropriate decisions lies in an understanding of past history, the present and future An understanding Canadians don't Each of us has and emotional circumstance direction. that many possess. opinions sentiments. What many of us lack is the understanding that the actions of various sectors of Canadian and Ontarian society are rooted in history. We lack clairty of what are demands and what are the inherent rights of sectors of our society. We lack the concept that there could be nations within the nation just as there are families within a family. Ontario has the technology to inform and educate citizens on the diversity of our people, the legislation and treaties which influence our multi-cultural, bi-lingual programs. convey to practices and The province must the people the sentiment of the sacrifices those which one is disposed to make in the future. It presupposes a past; but it resumes itself in the present by a tangible fact: the consent, the clearly expressed desire to continue life in comfion." By this definition, Canada may have lost the opportunity to make the decision to continue as a nation. Many citizens have lost the desire to continue life in common. Northern Woman Page 12 THE MEECH LAKE LEGACY Canadian politics have been based on a traditionally patriarchal model with a rigid, lineal decision making process. This process focuses on "power over" rather than the "power to" and decision making from The Meech Lake the top down. Accord process followed this The process has been model. proven wrong and further, may prove to be devastating Canada as a nation. inclusion of Quebec in for The the Constitution did not have to rights in women's place Canada's ignore jeopardy; aboriginal peoples' concerns or relegate Canadians living in Territories to a second-class position. non-participatory Voices calling for amendments to protect the rights of all people were wrongly labeled to amounting "anti-Quebec", Public emotional blackmail. consultation and hearing could Ontario must have the will and determination to assist the people of the first Nations of achieving in province our satisfactory negotiations of selffor agenda their land claims and government, quality of life issues. have and should have been taken Native and Women's seriously. organizations have continued to silenced through cuts organizational their be vision of Via Rail on steel which have been made and of but welcomed and by each of us, our commonness, uniting celebrating our differences, blending through growth not revolution. protected the Yukon and the Northwest information on legislation, contracts and conventions that we, as decision makers, should In 1882 Ernest Renan wrote: "A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle... A nation is a great solidarity, created by other, the OUR IDENTITY unaware of? women working side by side, valued equally. Our symbols should not be imposed on each information required to make educated and just decisions. people? Will history refer to broken promises and treaties? Will historians have access to be considering today but are We need to embrace the concept of existing independently/ together; sharing our raw materials and technology; enjoying urban and rural lifestyles; respecting the colour and traditions of our multi-cultural backgrounds, the sounds of our bilingual languages, being proud of a profile of men and Symbols of our identity: the tracks, connecting people from Canadian the to sea; sea wheat prairie the beaver; the abundant timber fields; forests, and the monarchy, have either changed or diminished in of a face symbolizing the developing Canada. All people, individually or collectively require an identity, to know who we are and where we came from; to build on, to change reflecting changing traditions times; valued cherishing and creating old new The grief experienced with the fading of ones as we grow. to or broadcasting or publication The legacy of the budgets. Meech Lake Accord is enforced country a and silence, polarized by protectionism. demonstrate must Ontario leadership in utilizing the skills and expertise of the the province by people of developing a model of true issues on consultation The affecting their lives. province must convey to the information the people, required to make educated and Our province just decisions. social its exhibit must conscience as the basis of the framework of our development. some of Canada's symbols is not in the loss but in the void. As Canadians, as Ontarians, we need to establish positive new our Bridging symbols. diversity, from our country's east/west extremities, from our province's north/south borders. WAR This very moment, as we stand looking towards the future, a between war rages world and seeking countries retaliating to "power over". PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �This very moment war rages in homes across the province, one 8 women are physically in battered by their partners in This a domestic relationship. very moment war rages in our communities, one in 4 females and one in 8 males is sexually are before they assaulted eighteen. This very moment war rages on Ontario's children. Hundreds of thousands will be and emotionally physically abused and/or be forced to live This very moment in poverty. many Ontarians fear war with our Francophone and Aboriginal sisters and brothers. Ontario has tremendous natural We have and human resources. the capabilities to empower our We can share the people. "power to" rather than inflict There is no "power over". future in "power over". Bay alone, welfare payments are up 53%, the caseload up 47%. and Councils administrators search for ways to cut community based support programs to cover mandatory Outshopping income benefits. has become a new Canadian word. and retailers Manufacturers Municipal press for Ontario's economic goals mus base include a broader economi of definition development and m u s incorporate long-range plannin jo into industrial growth, creation and quality of lif considerations. additional concessions, in their attempts and Canadian to compete. WOMEN AND THE ECONOMY Ontario companies attempt to negotiate salary and benefit Looking at the economy fro everyone's perspective to essential develop th potential of Ontario. Economi Health freezes or reductions. and safety standards may be in the name of threatened Ontario companies production. or branch plants have closed or moved to southern locations resulting in job losses and Canadians now pay a Goods and Services Tax not imposed on In answer to exported goods. the about our questions possible plus side of the free development must be looked a in a total sense: "This includes reasonable industrial expansion, job creation, and economic growth along with quality o life considerations; adequate and affordable housing, recreation and cultural facilities, traditional as well as alternative educational systems, health care facilities and a full range of support services. Other necessary considerations include accessible 24-hour child care and convenient public (Women transportation." in Decision Making 1982) Economic development ha: traditionally been regarded a: an issue concerning the business and political sectors Women and their concerns have generally been excluded fro the planning and implementatio Development scheme process. perpetuate th not must assumption that women exis only as dependents of men. (... Various reports) project that while the labour force is growing at only half the rat 1970's during the was it wil: participation women's increase and account for hal: of the workforce within 11 years. While we could interpret this to mean good news for women, wi must look at further relate FREE TRADE from concerns Despite many across the country, the Federal Government entered into the Trade Free Canada/U.S. agreement. "Its intent was to improve the economics of both countries, to strive for full employment and improved living standards, and to strengthen both countries in the international market-place; with both countries' ability to take measures to safeguard public welfare fully preserved." The agreement appears to be falling short of its goals. Ontario unemployment statistics continue to creep higher. Canadians have seen major changes to its unemployment insurance programs. In Thunder trade agreement we are encouraged to see all recent concessions and financial crises as unrelated. In the meantime without a verdict on the the original agreement Canadian government approaches agreement with a Canada/U.S. and Mexico. Uninformed Ontario citizens concerned, fear these further negotiations. Ontario owes its citizens a honest score card on negative the positive and results of free trade and its relationship to other financial Ontario The situations. government must not support further free trade agreements without an adequate sharing of and facts information, opinions, through a consultation process and with educated an from direction society. From the Ontari, statistics. Women's Directorate Databas, 1990 we know that women earn a mal of 64.8% of average The 1988 Statistic earnings. fo earnings female Canada full-time, full-year employmen Of women with a was $23,260. least one child under age 6 60.6% participate in the labou force and face costs of up t $6000. per year, per child fo licensed child care. Further we know that the average famil paren single for income employed female headed familie The face of th was $19,740. labour force and the economic of Ontario is changing. In addition to paid employmen (a recent study demonstrated that 69% of respondents sper, more than 20 hours per week c Add to this household tasks. volunteE of hours the activities that wome North4nViddiihr Page. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �contribute to their community and we have a true picture of the double work load women continue to carry. The shift in male and female work force participation rates, the disparity in earnings and subsequent disparity in taxable incomes and the fact that more women will become primary income earners, has serious financial and systemic implications for women themselves; for both traditional and non-traditional families; for the community and for the Province of Ontario. What is needed before future decisions are made is a more of perspective realistic women's role in today's society Women must be an integral part of planning the future. advance the to have we women, share knowledge, working of status learned to In expertise skills, and is Progress resources. achieved through empowerment and the collective "power to". Feminist the embracing By could Ontario perspective, model a process that will serve the future of the province, the country and the people well. The spirit of Northwestern captured in the women Ontario the of is following lines. continued from pg 14 drawings of houses with airplanes flying on top of the house, and with white flags on top of the roof. Those children coming from the streets don't even have drawings of parking lots or parks or things like that.. they just draw streets and streets. And when we asked them to draw what they had as a concept of peace, children coming from the repopulated areas and the conflictive areas were drawing trees, corn fields, green stuff, and the children from the marginalized areas were drawing soccer fields. We can see that they see peace as the minimum of living conditions, of So they subsistence level. gave us the elements to design our strategies to work with children. all hatred internalized in They are these children. having to face the consequences their social of war in conception. We see the work that the five women's major national organizations doing are together is very important. Especially because all these are women's organizations taking into account of an what's going to happen after We are already the war ends. invisible chain. Never still, the live movements stir the of northern women linkage. The echo of the chain vibrates establishment of a new economic We cannot say that we system. "Across -,- the vastness Northwestern Ontario lies through its length and rings out across the country. Threats cause the chain to pull taut and call on its collective strength. Hurt moves the chain to circle and protect. Energy flows along the chain to the weariest link. With achievement and celebration the chain shines. Should the chain knot, caring hands work tirelessly to insure the chain is restored. The links of the chain are woven through the patchwork of women's lives. Representing their work; their history; their vision. Each of us holds tight, drawing on, strengthening, giving the chain life." Together with other women's organizations, our institute is part of the national effort toward through peace, the permanent committe on national debate. We are thinking about what to do after the war, but We were so worried about the already Guaternal a-NACLA thinking about the are going to start to think about this when the war ends. We have to coordinate all the toward work efforts and building a social basis for this new economic model that we the in are going to have And this implies that future. the of 51% are if women population they have a very important role to play in these That is why it is changes. about think to necessary projects that will increase the and of women, development will benefit that projects very it's and children, important that together with all the popular movements we put all our efforts together. at the same time thinking .about how we can end this war. As women we have this challenge. And women who live in Cananda, as a developed country... women who are here tonight but also women of all the developed countries...have a historical role to play. But not in terms of charity or paternalism, but framework of better in the relations between north and south in the aim of world Because we have development. to think about what kind of new world order is coming so how are the third world countries going to be left? I want to thank the solidarity solidarity the women, from between women.. regardless of where they are coming from, or countries developed underdeveloped countries. really believe we can establish a relationship of self-respect and mutual cooperation. I have one special petition to all of you and this is to be alert to are that events the all happening in El Salvador and all Central American countries. Usually you get information about what is happening on the national scene but not what is I think happening with women. we are important also and we want the right to have that space. It is our wish to extend this spirit to the people of Ontario and Canada. Northern Woman Page 14 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �READING Keep on top of A PLACE TO START your reading There are many "good" books and about periodicals few a lesbianism and homophobia, some The recent and some classics. \itz .1% following is a list of books available or "orderable" at the Northern Woman's Bookstore. PERIODICALS BOOKS Rites Different Daughters, edited by Louise Rafkin Finding the Lesbians, edited by Julia Penelope and S. Valentine Lesbian Loulan Sinster Wisdom (quarterly) Common Lives/Lesbian Lives (quarterly) Joann by Passion, (monthly) If you know other books that A Restricted Country, by Joan Nestle ??????????? NORTHERN VOMAN JOURNAL Called My Back, edited by Gloria Andulzua and This Bridge this to added be should recommended reading list please let us know and we will print them next issue, along with a list of great lesbian fiction. Cherie Moraga Woman Plus Woman, by Delores Klaich Another Mother Tongue, by Judy Grahn Persifion by Sane, Still Blackridge and Sheila Gilhooly Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism, by Suzanne Pharr Lesbian Baetz Crossroads, by Ruth Sister Outsider, by Audre Lorde Coming Out The Original Julia Stories, edited by Penelope and Susan Wolfe Lesbian/Woman, by and Phyllis Lyons V V V V V V Canadian Women and AIDS: Beyond the Statistics V V Canadian Women and AIDS is one of the very few anthologies about women and AIDS. It contains over 40 articles, 11 by women with HIV/AIDS, and is organized in five thematic sections: V Del Martin The Lesbian Path, by Margaret Cruikshank An Introduction to the Issues of HIV/AIDS; Women with HIV/AIDS Share their Stories; V Women and AIDS: Who's Vulnerable (young women and adolescents, Haitian & other Black al women, lesbians, women using IV-drugs, prostitutes & women in prison); Educating Ourselves, Educating Each Other; and Memory Board, by Jane Rule Organizing our Communities: Women Helping Stepping Out of Line, Hughes et ?2,???????!L? < < < < <<< < <<<< Women. Read an overview of women and AIDS in Canada and another artick placing women and AIDS in a worldwide context. See through the eyes of an epidemiologist studying the evolution of AIDS, then through the eyes of an ordinary' woman suddenly diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, then through the eyes of a nurse in an AIDS clinic or a volunteer in a community organization or a social worker in a hospital as she attempts to support, to explain, to educate and to destigmatize the illness. 325 pages, ISBN 0- 9691410 -8-4 $15.95 + $1postage&handling + 7% GST Les Editions Communiqu'Elles 3585 St-Urbain, Montr6al, Qu6bec, Canada H2X 2N6 Tel: (514) 844-1761; fare (514) 842-1067 Northern Woman Page 15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �UPDATE ABORTION IS LEGAL IN CANADA' have the right to access to LEARN MASSAGE BY VIDEO safe abortions. Who would have believed Senate the Maybe irrelevant after all. With it? Following the Senate decision "this stated Swarbrick represents a major victory for isn't women ", Because it was the Senate that - by a vote of 43-43 - defeated (Senate rules demand Bill C43. that a tie vote be declared Bill C43, which would recriminalized abortion was vigorously opposed by the The Bill pro-choice movement. was also strongly criticized by the medical profession - many doctors declared they would abortion perform to refuse procedures if the Bill became lost.) have law. In fact, a northern the women seeking abortions in southern Ontario; and consulting with women's groups, providers and community groups to find new ways of improving access. number of doing stopped had doctors abortions in anticipation that the law would be enacted. Some anti-choice activists had also It is this question of access continued requires that the pro-choice advocacy by movement, as access is very uneven with some provinces and providing areas most rural Pressure little or no access. must be exerted on the federal government to use the Canada every Act ensure Health province provides access. opposed the Bill as being too So not all the 43 moderate. Senators who voted against the Bill are pro-choice. But make no mistake about this - it was pro-choice advocates who celebrated that night. quickly was Bay, Thunder taking advantage of the visit to our community of Ontario's for Responsible Minister Women's Issues, AnneSwarbrick. Swarbridk and her colleague made had Gigantes Evelyn representation to the Senate celebration A in organized Committee studying the and stated that government will work to ensure improved access to abortion for The Ontario Ontario women. a made has government commitment to speeding up the freestanding of licensing clinics; extending the Northern Health Travel Grants to cover president of "the fight for CARAL states been always has access and regional in provincial Kit Holmwood, nature and it will continue in As long as a that manner. region or province single refuses to provide access to safe, legal abortion we will be unable to rest." W.I.T.T. NETWORK PROJECT Bill, strong the forward putting Ontario position that abortion a not issue a health is criminal matter, and that women Trades and in Women Technology Network Project is pleased that to announce funding has been received to The undertake community development work leading up to the creation of a network of women working PART OF in trades and technology in our INA 4=116 area. The objectives of the project DON T YOU UNDERSTAND are: 1) to identify women who are committed individuals to join our dynamic working Board of nonthese in working traditional occupations; 2) to conduct a survey of these women and identify their needs and concerns related to their occupations; 3) to lay the foundation for a formal network of women in technological and trades occupations by bringing women together to meet, discuss and Do you have an Directors. interest in women's health? If you are concerned about the issues relating to our upcoming projects on Women and Body The project will culminate in a forum, planned for September 1991 and address issues that are identified by the women in W.H.I.N. Ontario Northwestern The Information Women's Health for looking is Network Image and Eating Disorders (a play to tour the high schools or Pre and Post of N.W.O.) Natal Services for pregnant we would value your women, Be in the forefront of input. action on women's health issues in N.W.O. ... call Jane at 345 1410; or in Kenora area call 468-6357. learn. the survey. i Women who presently work in trades or technology, those who have left the field for various reasons or any woman studying or preparing for a job in are technology or trades invited to become a part of this project. Call Martha Gingerich at 345-0233 or 767- instructional the all videos coming available from larger it centres, is not surprising that a remarkable one arises from Thunder Bay by a woman. minutes in length, this 72 video combines a deep and real human caring with a wealth of professional expertise to take you step-by-step through the proper delivery massage. of a body This is no amateur item but a professionally top-quality, filmed and personated product. The practitioner/instructor in the video, Sita Holland, is a committed feminist as well as a Registered Massage Therapist trained at the Sutherland-Chan school of Massage - one of five Massotheraphy accredited schools in Canada. At one time an Ontario school teacher, Sita left the school system in search of a more positive way to promote human She caring and whole health. found it in massage but claims "the best part is spreading it - especially among my sisters who know that we must nurture One of Sita's one another". was school at specialities infant massage and that "will be the subject of another video in the future." The director/producer with a wealth of multi-media training and experience is Jim Farrell who designed the camera work for close-up clarity and keen definition. Printed titles and skilled narration make this a valuable learning tool. The woman recipient in the video is Skeets, a survivor of who challenges, life many attests to the deep relaxation produced by massage by falling You can hear her asleep. snoring through some stages of the treatment! Pick up your copy of plus Learn the Massage accompanying "Guide" notes at ($39.95) the Northern Woman's Bookstore. FEMINIST FILMS have arrived in Since January, Thunder Bay! the National Film Board and the Thunder Bay Art Gallery have excellent these presented Canadian films by women and for the Perhaps everyone. beer. has far highlight so Sandra's Garden, a film about incest survival. This Canadiar premiere was largely attended and featured discussion witl- and Dickey Bonnie director Sandra after the film. Thunder beer have audiences Bay ThE educated and entertained. series continues through JunE and will hopefully continuE next film season. 5286. Northern Woman Page 16 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Second Class Mall eglstratlea Na. 5U7 MAIL TO: Fort RN TO: THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. BOX 144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 ances, Ont. P9 3M3 3 2 Return Postage Guaranteed 11 VI 1V' ASTERISK ON S THE R rm.RENEW. YOUR SUBSCR NAME p - tt tom Mime IHUNDER 6AY,, ON P7C 1111;4741:q., *ago netrW.-- [IMAM ION ADDRESS POST AL CODE $ 6.00 Individual 1 nstitutional $12.00 NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4Y5 Collectively produced DEBBIE BENNIE, ME ANNE HONEY, MARGARET JOHNSTON, NANCY LYONS, MARGARET PHILLIPS, JANE SAUNDERS, JOSIE WALLENIUS. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 13 No 3 Description An account of the resource Vol. 13, No. 3 (May 1991) Title: Northern Woman Journal Topics include: Poetry Child sexual abuse Women & solidarity Women & power Global Awareness Project Transnational solidarity Anti-war Discrimination based on sexuality Homophobia Human rights for gays and lesbians Lesbian & gay awareness Resources for northern women Wife assault/sexual assault initiatives Faye Peterson Transition House funding Meech Lake Accord Women & the economy Free trade Feminist book list Canadian women & AIDS Abortion made legal in Canada Northwestern Ontario Women’s Health Information Network Authors/Contributors: Gert Beadle Rodene Zimmer Nancy Lyons Josie Wallenius Svend J. Robinson Audrey McLaughlin Lynn Beak Nancy Gildner Ontario Women’s Directorate Leni Untinen Debbie Bennie Rae Anne Honey Margaret Johnston Margaret Phillips Jane Saunders Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2824/1991_Vol_13_No_4.pdf a3211cd2e0376f6a0cfd46f3fd091719 PDF Text Text PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �EDITORIAL They were supposed to fade in hours . quickly abandon their picket lines and like docile 'servants' return to their desks. They were supposed to be grateful for their jobs . jobs that keep many women living below . . . . the poverty line on wages. . . . and not protest a freeze But they did not fade. Rather, with determination and dignity and a new awareness, members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) maintained a strong, solid and very necessary strike until they were legislated back to work. This was a strike about fairness. About a government (after raising their own already hefty salaries) freezing the wages of their unionized employees. About a government that refuses to fulfil its commitment to pay equity, that is trying to block a human rights tribunal's investigation of a pay equity complaint. About a government that is offering its lowest paid employees a 'signing much as $60,000 a year. Yes, this was a strike about fairness. Whil the government used its power to legislal PSAC back to work, the arrogance and th unfairness of the government's dealings wit its employees will be long remembered ric only by union members but also by th larg bonus' of $500, when annual pay equity segment of the Canadian public that full adjustments should average $3,800. About a government that offers a $500.00 bonus to an employee (read female employee) earning $16,000 and nothing to union employees in the $30,000 to $60,000 range, while giving managers and commissioners supports PSAC. whose annual salary exceeds $200,000 (read treatment and change for the better in ot. male employee) bonuses that could be as lives. As feminists we should be supportive of ot sisters working in the public service -not jui supporting their demands but supportive i our solidarity as women working for fa $$$$$$$$NEEDED$M$ As a group we are a delight. But our Northern Woman Journal Collective has slowly dwindled to four active members. (UPDATE!! We are now five. Welcome Chris!) We meet somewhere on Bay Street, and sometimes forage, sometimes struggle and sometimes succeed in our collective efforts to design and produce the Northern Woman Journal. There is always so much material to sift through, so many important conferences, information bulletins and government reports to decipher and we do it with such enjoyment and purpose. The . . . purpose of this Journal is to give this vital information, thought-provoking stories and this feminist knowledge a place. has no other place. And for the moment, we find It ourselves with no money. We do not purchase lavish furnishings for the Journal In fact we only pay the rent. And this month we can't even do that. I guess what we are saying is if it is time to renew your subscription, now would be the best time to do it. (You'll save $$ by doing it now. Starting next issue subscription rates Office. increase.) Also, why not encourage a neighbour, friend or co-worker to subscribe? If you could, ANY sum of money as a donation would be appreciated. This time we really need it. And we are here to ask again, SEVENTEEN years later. THANK YOU $$$$$$$$$ 52% OF THE VOTING POPULATION ARE WOMEN Northern women milst make their sr.als.lahle experience in the home, the workplace and the Novembe the community count in municipal elections. Northern women have concerns about the economy, the environment, quality of life issues and the education of our children. Northern women have the right and the responsibility to make our voices heard. Northern women must play-an important role In the future of our northern communities- When your candidate calls, share your concerns and ask for their position on violence issues such as: child care; against women and children in the home and to women's access the community; employment; housing; support services for single parent families and older women and the economic future of the community. OUR VOTE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON NOVEMBER 12, 1991 Cover design: Courtesy of UBINIG: Policy Research for Development Alternatives, Dhaka, Bangladesh. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Noreomftmari :Page ;2= �CHEERS AND HUGS FOR DECADE COUNCIL FIFTEEN YEARS OF FEMINIST EXCELLENCE by Margaret Phillips 1975 was (some of you may recall) International Women's Year. The year to honour women, focus on women's issues, resolve the problems facing women. With much rhetoric, considerable platitudity, and some glitzy (and occasionally offensive) promo, the government declared its support for women, and provided some token $ to promote (one-time) events, tours, activities during 1975. While the government assumed their obligation to women had been neatly dealt with by underestimated the IWY initiatives, they the yearning and the commitment of Canadian women for radical social, economic and political change. Rather than politely saying thank you for the package and fading back into the kitchen, women took the IWY initiatives as a starting point for the on-going process of political action to address the inequities and injustices women experience. The Canadian response was consistent with women's reaction Newcomers to Thunder Bay often ask me about the women's movement in the north. start with Decade. Decade is: an activist, a catalyst, a network, a solid researcher, an advocate, an information resource. But Decade also is a lifeline, a source of inspiration, a safe home, a supportive sister. The political activist role that Decade plays is easiest to explain. Through a variety of mechanisms - research, reports, briefs, workshops, conferences, etc., Decade has initiatied and supported action on issues including: pension reform, equal pay, women and addictions, family property law, sexual harassment, social assistance, women and work, feminist counselling, women in trades and technology, sex-role stereotyping, women and mental health, women and decision making, cutbacks to social programs, cutbacks to women's programs, the Canadian internationally, and the demand was made for a Decade for Women. constitution, Meech Lake, free trade and privatization. If you are interested in an issue... join with Decade Council to take The action. Northwestern Ontario International Women's Year Council had formed in late 1974 to encourage some cohesion and purpose to this spurt of government IWY activity, and successfully coordinated the Northwestern Ontario events. programs carried out by the International Year N.W.O. Council. As each activity or event was evaluated the overriding response was "this is only a beginning... there is much more to do.." formed. Major studies of women and work in Northwestern Ontario were undertaken in 1978 and in 1989. Workshops have been facilitated across the region, and the Committee has produced RUN TO WIN, a handbook for women seeking public office. Decade takes every opportunity to remind politicians and political candidates that "52% Violence against women is frequently the first issue that women in the small communities of our region organize around. Decade's involvement and expertise in the movement to end violence against women is recognized came together in early- 1976...some-80 women from across the breadth and depth of Northwestern Ontario to 'evaluate' the I But how to define it? regionellyi-provincially and -Decade's leadership re violence issues includes organizational and development support and training to evolving and established Transition Houses, as well as providing a strong analysis of the issue, and mobilizing collective efforts to ensure political action. But who to do it? Women and economic development has also been a major focus for Decade. Spurred by The IWY Council, understandably exhausted from a hectic year, gave notice that they had run out of energy... that someone else must 'do it' and threw the question of who to do it back to the assembled group. With great exuberance woman after woman (dozens of us) stood up and said "I'll do it". And thus, the Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council was born. the exclusion of women's experience and perspective in the hearing and deliberations of the Royal Commission on the Northern Environment in 1977, a Women and Economic Development Committee was of the voting population are women". Through a variety of strategies - all-candidates meetings, surveys, "ask your candidate brochures", Decade has engaged in non- partisan election strategies. bringing women's perspective t9 the political_ agenclawm. The networking function of Decade is exemplary....and one to be reckoned with. A simple telephone call to the "network" can produce dozens of telegrams on a Cabinet minister's desk in a matter of hours, and has resulted in positive action. Decade's public profile and accomplishments applauded. But it is the intangible qualities of the organization that are most meaningful as Janet and Charlotte describe in their articles. It is the sustenance, can be truly the nurturing, the caring, the safety, the friendships that remains with us, revitalizes us for our individual work. and ????????? ???????????????? In the intervening years Decade Council has - unique in Ontario, if not Canada. Rooted in women's experience, Decade Council gives VOICE to evolved as an organization ENCOURAGEMENT AND INSPIRATION Northwestern Ontario women (women of small towns and rural areas, as well as urban women). Through Decade, our voice, with strong analysis and clear vision, breaks the silence and eases the isolation. by Charlotte Holm I As an associate of Decade over these fifteen years, but only occasionally an active Decade worker, I believe I can objectively portray the place Decade has in the feminist movement in Northwestern Ontario. But, as I write this, it increasingly feels like a love letter to Leni and so many Decade women. And that's o.k., because many of us feel strongly emotional about what Decade means - to our region, to our organizations, to us individually. have very vivid memories of Decade Council meetings, particularly during the long and difficult (but ultimately successful) struggle to establish services in Kenora for abused women; about taking the midnight train to Thunder Bay and arriving at Decade Council meetings discouraged, frustrated and exhausted. recall the warmth and safety of being in a room full of women whose strength, dedication and persistence lent the encouragement and inspiration to continue the struggle. I To me, the most graphic demonstration of Decade Council's influence and support happened around the Ministry of Northern Development's "Family Violence" funding in 1987. Women's Place was the only "questionable" applicant, and Decade Council members astounded the Ministry by collectively offering to give up their allocations in order that we be funded. Thankfully, this sacrifice was not necessary, but the offer inspired the Ministry to search out a source of funding that allowed us to purchase our building and to achieve, for the first time, a degree of stability. And what a party we had when Decade Council met in Kenora that year! 11111. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Notthern INOingn ,',Page 3 �A SPIRIT OF LOVE AND RESPECT to me that all energies there were goin by Janet Seekins Decade maintains an office in Thunder Bay. The Decade executive meets monthly and Council as a whole meets bi-monthly. Northwestern Ontario women's groups and individual women who subscribe to Decade's goal "to improve the status of women in Northwestern Ontario through the elimination of barriers to the full participation of women in all spheres - economic, social and political" and to Decade's Statement of Unity (see sidebar), may become members of Decade Council. toward sustaining the status quo. This wa the time of my involvement as a "region; rep."; and it was during this period dre, heavily upon the "Council" for person; The Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council has held a meaningful place in my life for all of its 15 years. Our relationship has comprised of four distinctly separate periods of involvement... each bringing its own satisfaction and opportunity for personal commitment and growth. I sustenance and support. I played the part ( a pipeline of information to my hom community as I carried back news about th latest issues on the feminist roster an suggested ways that local groups could joi the battle. This was done with less tha satisfactory results because, with only a fe \ exceptions, it seemed like my reports fell o deaf ears. Maintaining my enthusiasm wa As one of the group of women who initially was stimulated by the came together, prospect of finally being able to take some I action that would not only recognize the difficult, and couldn't have been accomplishe accomplishments of Northwestern Ontario women; but would also give us a chance to identify and, hopefully, fill some specific needs. The thrill of our inaugural meeting is without the regular input and support th "Decade" meetings provided for me. console myself now, in the knowledge the information-sharing is never wasted; and the more may have been listening than I realize, at the time. still fresh in my mind as I recall the excitement of planning an International Women's Year celebration. In retrospect have to smile at I In order to take a more holistic approach Decade Council changed its internal structure in 1990 and developed working groups to replace their previous sub-committee structure. Readers interested in obtaining more information about the working groups or Council's overall activities should phone the Decade office at 683-5662. In their operation Decade Council follows these groundrules: our enthusisam at thhe prospect of spreading After returning to Thunder Bay to a mere $15,000 over a plethora of projects spanning a full 12 month period. How little we knew then; and how terrified we would have been if we could have glimpsed the workload and time commitment that lay ahead. the dynamically adept functioning of the organizing body; but could recognize an( These first few years, as we gained knowledge of the important issues concerning women and the bureaucratic framework within which we had to operate to achieve our goals, were like an indoctrination for me. learned that it wasn't enough to be shocked and I honour the truly remarkable women who ha( contributed so much to its development. li addition to being in awe of the proficiency c our organization, I was thrilled to observe hov the main philosophy and general principles c the original group were still incorporated into each decision. It was exhilarating to see hov we had grown from our fledgling beginnings Etie'rgies were flowing in all directions and I " *Northern women are experts on their own lives. *The stating place for De'cade Council is women's experience. *The direction of the group is determined by women wanting to carry out work on their issues (define their own work); planning for us; not plans for someone else to carry out. *Activities should develop a skilled, active constituency. *Activities should de-mystify power structures for women. *Leadership -issues and organizational- is a shared responsibility. From these groundrules we have formed a team whose experience cannot be negated, because each of us owns our experience. horrified by the systemic barriers that kept women from gaining equal and rights My opportunity in every role of eyes- were ,opened _to the real issues. of "power" and "control" ... words that then I thought only related to personal relationships. I learned about government systems and what strategies had to be followed to even get the felt truly privileged to be a part of both givinc to and receiving from the source. ear of those who could affect change. Now things have once more changed. The time to step aside has come. There was discovered, too, how women with very little period when I could not have imagined lif( experience in speaking out publicly could with DecadE quickly draw upon their outrage to confront without direct involvement anyone who stood in the way of our goals. Council but I have moved over into a placE It never occurred to me, then, that things of contentment to "bask in the afterglow" wouldn't change; or that it would take some Now I can enjoy a wonderful knowing tha th( years to bring about even slight movement women are carrying on the fight; and that on some issues. It was a time of great hope spirit of love and respect still, mysteriously I flows among all those that are doing the work and commitment. By defining our participation and direction, we have insured commitment." (History of NWO Decade Council) continued ... live, decided to dedicate my energies tl supporting the "base of operation" for a whit and took up responsibilities on the executive This experience afforded me a totally differer perspective of the "Council". I was now in position to not only observe and appreciate draw from regularly. I remember the issues, the work I When I left Thunder Bay for the Rainy River District I felt like I was severing my lifeline and going into a political wasteland. It appeared know its there because i I remembe unconditional love and acceptance an understand why "Decade" has played such big part in my life. I also know that we can b( the laughter and the tears. page 5. I apart and still support each other. 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO WOMEN'S DECADE COUNCIL WI "Decade" women have shared an experience that has touched us all in a very special way and the bonds between us will last forever. a STATEMENT OF UNITY a As a feminist organization we believe in the dignity of womanhood, the value of women's work, the voice of a women as experts on our own lives and equality through freedom of choices. As feminists we recognize and cherish our herstory, the individuals' experience and we also affirm the female associated values of caring, nurturing, respect, sharing and we respectfully challenge and confront ourselves and each other in our diverse learning processes. As feminists we are committed to the equality of all people. aa As feminists we believe that all people must be free to develop to their full potential and we support the a efforts for self-determination of people from all countries. a Our strength is in our commitment to collectivity in decision making, lobbying and support. a Our vision challenges the very essence of a male defined political, economic and social system which we struggle to redesign not simply to find a place in. We start with ourselves - living it. a aa PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �BREAD AND ROSES Those of us long associated with Decade know, of course, that the heart and spirit of Decade Council rests with Leni Untinen, Decade's long-term staff person. As a community activist, when need help or Decade puts into practice the woman's ageold rallying theme "give us bread, but give us roses". Many Northwestern Ontario women have been filled with joy on receiving a rose and thank you from Decade for tasks accomplished or risks And taken for the benefit of women. I encouragement it is to Leni I turn. Whether I need resource assistance, clarity of analysis, facilitation expertise, mobilization help, or just Decade's celebrations are marvellous fun,the early International Women's Day gatherings, the 50 and 60 Years a Person celebrations bring fond memories. a shoulder to cry on the first person I, and scores of other NWO activists call is Leni. The support and friendship that Leni gives to our organizations collectively, and to us individually, is something I treasure deeply. Throughout the years Decade Council has been blessed with the commitment, energy The and expertise of many women. We give resounding cheers as Decade celebrates its 15th birthday. But Decade is not resting on its laurels. Right now Decade is busy finalizing its plans for an exciting numerous volunteer members of the Decade executive, Council and working groups who have devoted countless hours to improve the status of Northwestern Ontario women. The staff members - past and present - whose skill and commitment are such a wonderful resource. And I would particularly recognize Dawn St. Amand, whose down-to-earth wisdom and perseptiveness made Decade a welcome home for many new women. conference WOMEN UNITING FOR CHANGE: Listening, Learning, Speaking Out, to be held November 1 - 3, 1991. Thank you Decade Council for fifteen years of feminist excellence. Good luck with all your future endeavours. What to do in a Sexual Harassment Emergency 1. KNOW: If something that is said or done to you makes you feel uncomfortable, know that respectful flirtation and compliments don't make you feel uncomfortable, but sexual harassment does. 2. SAY: Simply tell the person, "What you are doing makes me uncomfortable." Perhaps describe in words what is happening while it is happening - for example, "You have your hands on my shoulders" or "This is the third time today that you have brushed against my body when you walked by." 3. FIND: Obtain a definition of sexual harassment, circle the part that describes what the harasser is doing to you, and leave it in the harasser's mailbox; or, write a description of what the harasser is doing and deliver it to the harasser's office. 4. TELL Your co-workers should be told what is happening to you, because most harassers have more than one victim. 5. REPORT: Find out if your workplace, institution, or employee association has a sexual harassment officer, and report the incident to them. For copies of this poster: Women Students' Sexual Harassment Caucus Department of Applied Psychology Ontario Institute for Studies in Education 252 Elinor Street West Toronto. Ontario M5S 1V6 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Nort ,P4,90.0 �RAPE SHIELD LAW STRUCK DOWN by Doreen Boucher the Supreme Court judged that a law that In August of 1991, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down Section 276 of the Criminal Code. This section, referred to as truth by excluding relevant evidence "runs prevents a judge and jury from getting to the the "Rape Shield", prevented the introduction of evidence regarding a victim's past sexual history. afoul of our fundamental conceptions of infer consent on her part to the assau issue at hand, nor is she to be considere less truthful in regards to her accusatic that a sexual assault took place. In pla justice and what constitutes a fair trial". language, they aren't to hold it against he The court said that the 1983 law infringed on an accused man's constitutional right to life, Right! That ought to do it. liberty and security of the person and to a When you take issue number one ar combine it with issue number two, yc At the same time it upheld Section 277, fair trial. (emphasis mine) which disallows introducing such evidence of sexual reputation "for the purpose of To modify or mollify, perhaps, the impact of cannot help thinking that the Supreme Cm has an unrealistic impression of our societ removing Section 276, Section 277 was upheld. In addition, the Supreme Court introduction of the rape shield in 1983, to tt challenging or supporting the credibility of the complainant". Confused? Sound somewhat contradictory? Let's start from the beginning. provided guidelines for allowing sexual history evidence. They are: 1) evidence of sexual conduct cannot be used to make the complainant (victim) seem In 1983, parliament amended the Criminal Code to restrict questioning by defense lawyers regarding an alleged victim's sexual history. Prior to this legislation rape victims could be "interrogated" as to their past sexual experience(s) not because it was relevant to the case, but rather, because it created prejudice toward the victim and her credibility in the minds of the judge and jury. more likely to consent or less worthy to be believed. 2) the evidence can be admitted only on the discretion of the trial judge, who must decide it is so crucial to showing the defendant's guilt or innocence that it outweighs any prejudice toward the complainant. 3) the arguments for and against using the evidence must be conducted in a voir dire (trial within a trial) which excludes the jury. 4) if the evidence is allowed, the judge must The underlying belief system in the old warn the jury it must not be taken to common law rules inferred that women of indicate consent by the complainant or an "unchaste" character most likely consented to the alleged assault. Bluntly speaking, if she didn't say no before, why would she say no this time? Historically, the laws were clearly intended to protect women of "pure and virtuoua" character, not those of "easy" character. In medieval times, women who indication her testimony is less reliable. were "untouched" fetched a higher price. They were worth more, they were more believable. (emphasis mine) Two Supreme Court judges, Madame Justice Claire L'Heureaux Dube and Justice Charles Gonthier opposed the majority decision. Madame L'Heureaux Dube wrote the minority decision, which has been described as a "stinging dissent". Her opposing arguments will be referred to later in this article. Section 276 prevented introduction of such evidence, but did not entirely exclude I have been involved in the issue of violence evidence of a woman's sexual history. For example, if she had slept with the accused for 15 years. As a counsellor and court advocate of sexual assault victims, the Supreme Court decision created a strong My initial response of reaction in me. on previous occasions this evidence was admissable. If she had slept with someone prior to the assualt, for forensic evidence clarification, this could be included in court testimony, i.e. her consensual partner's outrage turned to incredulity as I read more on the decision. sperm was present as well as the assailant's sperm. Three major problems stemming from this decision were immediately apparent: 1) the discretion of judges: Trial judges have been known to hold the common beliefs and distrust of women's To behaviours, motives and sexuality. The recent overturn of Section 276 came about when two men, charged with sexual assault, challenged the section, claiming they would not receive a fair trial unless their lawyers could question fully the two women who had accused them. They contended that Section 276 prevented introduction of the women's past sexual history, which violated their rights under the Constitution. Supporting them in this challenge was the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. This group added their voice that the rape shield law prevented some people accused of sexual assault from mounting a full defense and getting a fair trial. It was, in their opinion, a violation of the defendant's constitutional rights. The majority decision (7-2), written by Madame Justice Beverly McLachlin, in essence agreed with this argument. The Supreme Court struck down Section 276. While praising the objectives of the old law, McLachlin stated that it went too far "In seeking to abolish the outmoded sexistbiased use of sexual conduct evidence the law overshoots the mark and renders inadmissable evidence which may be essential to the presentation of legitimate defenses and hence to a fair trial". Further, that a judge importance of past assume can weigh the sexual history unemcumbered by sexist beliefs is incredibly naive. Madame Justice Claire L'Heureaux Dube wrote, in her minority decision, that Parliament enacted Section 276 because it did not trust judges to make the correct decisions. She went on to state that sexism exhibited by some trial judges was the reason the rape shield provision was adopted. "Parliament was faced with a historical record which demonstrated that this discretion was abused and exercised in a discriminatory fashion by trial judges and with overwhelming social science research that say things have not changed." (emphasis mine) Anyone can sit through a sexual assault trial or indeed, read the newspaper to find examples of this. It seems that in the interim, between tt overturning of the law in 1991, we all di( and woke up in equality heaven. These esteemed judges frankly don't see to have a grip on reality. Their decisior suggest that we live in a society whe women are treated equal to men. It als. suggests that judges, defense lawyers, ju members, even crown attornies rema untouched by sexist biases. There is r recognition of any power imbalance in o society. The directive from the judge to the jury supposed to wipe from the minds of k people centuries of socialization, ideas ar beliefs that women ask to be raped becaul of their actions and demeanor; enjoy beir abused; or are vindictive people and not be trusted because of their nature. I have witnessed, in court, defense iawye playing up these negative attitudes abo women which would prejudice the judge ar jury agatrist the ViCial. Thiz does ricel riar to be done in high drama as depicted television or movies, nor does it necessar have to concentrate on her sexu behaviour. It is often done, very subtl through inference or innuendo. "How do you behave when you have had few drinks?" "You went out drinking with a girl friend ar left your kids with a sitter? Do you do ttoften?" This tactic is comparable to sublimir advertising. Similarly, defense lawyers plant negati' messages about the victim, particularly those things that we are taught to ha about women. They wish to instill doubt to credibilty based on the prejudices Iowa her sex. And they often succeed. Inferences, subtle or otherwise, will history is hopelessly naive ignorant of human behaviour. sexual ar Madame McLachlin, however, disagree "The ideas that a complainant's credibil might be affected by whether she has other sexual experiences is to6 universally discredited. There is no logic or practical link between a woman's semy reputation and whether she is a truth, Evidence of sexual conduct ar reputation in itself cannot be regarded logically probative of either th complainant's credibility or consent. Ti twin myths which Section 276 sought eradicate have no place in a rational ar just system of law" (emphasis mine) witness. If the judge decides to admit sexual history evidence, he/she is instructed to warn the jury that this evidence does not 2) PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 6 1 retained by judge and jury. It will not 1 forgotten, especially when it plays into tl belief systems commonly held. To expe that we would refrain from judging them �Madame Justice McLachlin has a lot of trust in the system, in the idea that sexist beliefs do not penetrate the hallowed halls of justice. Sexism and racism, as we know, are not rational, logical or just. It makes me wonder what life in a bubble feels like. 3) for sexual assault to see that the system is working, for the accused, that is. Opening the doors to admit sexual history provides rapists and defense lawyers with more ammunition against the victims. Yet, we are told that the system will be fairer to HAT PART OF ("NA 4C2110 DON T YOU UNDERSTAND both sides. Criminal Defense/Lawyers There has been a lot of reaction to the Supreme Court decision. Many women's groups have blasted the decision. However, Alan Borovoy, head of the Canadian Civil there are some, including sexual offenders (I believe, when he stated "It strikes a better balance between the rights of the accused and the rights of victims." My contention is there was never a balance in the first place, the rights of the accused far outweighed the rights of the victim. surmise) and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association who applaud this decision. Take, for example, the comments of the president of Criminal Lawyers Association of Liberties Association would like us to _4 0I Ontario, Brian Greenspan. He was quoted as saying that women should not be concerned about defense lawyers raising their sexual history in court. After all, he says "Society no longer tolerates rude cross examination of rape victims about their sexual lives or reputation." He contends that "cross-examining a woman on unchasteness or reputation is an unsuccessful technique. Lawyers don't do it anymore". (emphasis mine) In the words of Madam L'Heureaux Dube "Rape myths still present formidable obstacles for complainants in their dealings with the very system charged with discovering the truth. From the making of the initial complaint down to the determination of the issue at trial, stereotype and mythology are at work, lowering the number of reported cases, influencing police decisions to pursue the case, thereby decreasing the rates of arrest, and finally distorting the issues at trial and, necessarily, Well, he should be informed that from 19831991 they did not have the authority to do it, but it wasn't for the lack of trying. So why is it that don't feel reassured by Greenspan's words? Moreover why do sense that women have been patted on the head, warned not to over-react (so typical, I I right?) and worry not, the boys will take care of it. Greenspan continues "it was counter productive for women's groups to cry havoc because the ruling allows ample protection from abusive sexual questioning". And "If you take a practical look at how this changes things, it changes things very little". Uhh, Huh. That is precisely what we should be concerned about. the results. It is clear that most sexual history of a rape victim is irrelevant once the mythical basis of relevancy determinations in the law is revealed." The impact on sexual assault victims is numerous. One thing is abundantly clear, this decision will silence rape victims. Every sexual assault victim have worked with feared the court system as much as the rapist. Victims will not be willing to put their life up to public scrutiny. Having been raped was injurious enough without adding insult I provided by the court process. One victim was quoted and she said it so succinctly "Looks like the boys have won again". If you wish to voice your opinion: 1) write to Justice Minister Kim Campbell 2) write local MPs and MPPs 3) let the Supreme Court judges know how you view their decision. On a final note, I would find it very interesting if, after a few cases have been In Summary I have come across as distrustful of the intentions of judges or defense lawyers and I do not apologize for this. There are some excellent judges who have insight and empathy toward victims of crime. Likewise there are lawyers who would not stoop to demeaning the victim. Unfortunately, in my experience, they are a minority. Prior to the abolishment of Section 276, the tried without the rape shield, a group of victims were to approach the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to take on their case. That being that the Constitution has violated their rights to life, liberty, security of their person and to a fair trial. Doreen Boucher is the Executive Director of Assault Crisis Centre rather than convict one innocent man" victim did or did not agree to the sexual contact. Additionally there is the issue of the defense of "honest but mistaken belief", in which the accused can argue that he "really" believed she was consenting. You treat my rape like scraped knee; if I'm not so careless and watch where I'm going it won't happen. there was yes, yes in her eyes. Protection for the accused, and especially sexual offenders was more than adequate prior to the overturn of Section 276. One has only to look at the low conviction rate "I am concerned that sexist beliefs and stereotypes continue to exist in the justice system," said Mr. Hampton. "We must ensure that women who are victims of sexual assault are treated fairly on the witness stand and in the justice system in general." The Ministers will detail their concerns in a letter to the federal Justice Minister. The Minister of the Attorney General will consult with groups such as the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, the Ontario Native Women's Association, the Congress of Black Women and Metro Action Committee on Public Violence Against Women and Children on possible new federal legislation as well as measures which can be put in place at the provincial level. a I'm dirty and ashamed and so scared inside but you see no cuts and don't even offer a bandaid. You know the concept. She said no, but We have to reverse this setback", said Ms. Swarbrick. Women have worked long and hard to demonstrate that a victim's past sexual history simply isn't relevant in a sexual assault case. Too often society blames women for the violence that is perpetrated against us - there are real risks in leaving this open to the discretion of individual judges." "We already know that only a small percentage of assaulted women report these crimes," said Ms. Swarbrick. "The Supreme Court of Canada decision has been a further blow to our confidence that it's safe to come forward." protected the accused rights: "Innocent until proven guilty" "Let nine guilty people go free In sexual assault cases, the issue at hand is almost always one of consent, whether the In a press release of August 27, 1991, Attorney General Howard Hampton and Anne Swarbrick, Minister Responsible for Women's Issues called on Federal Justice Minister Kim Campbell to swiftly explore legislative safeguards to protect women in the wake of last week's Supreme Court decision to strike down "Rape Shield" provisions in the Criminal Code. the Thunder Bay Physical and Sexual foundation of the law and its immediate safeguards have more than adequately "Beyond a reasonable doubt." UPDATE He raped my body you rape my mind. "Within the justice system we will do everything to counter this situation. We will be examining policies and procedures such as specialized training and education, ways to protect the privacy of victims, and ways to keep past sexual history out of the courts," said Hampton. "It is up to everyone at all levels to ensure that women are equally protected by the justice system which is meant to serve them." ************************************ Rodene Zimmer PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 1 �IN SEARCH OF BALANCED PERSPECTIVES AND GLOBAL SOLIDARITY FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS by Sylvia Estrada-Claudio We have thought up this theme because of a shared conviction that there is a need to promote the discord of third world women in the international women's health movement. international feminist movement, including its health component, has not happened in a vacuum. It has happened in a world where there are dominant countries The and cultures, a world where there are dominant traditions of scholarship and But there are historical differences in the In Russia and Eastern Europe before the health care systems that have been established in the advanced capitalist states and those in the third world. In its home great changes of the late 1980's, inadequacies in the health care system reflected the obstacles met by the people in states capitalism has been forced to provide achieving the socialist goal of instituting health care services to appease workers demands; to prolong the productivity of skilled workers; to find the correct balance between preventative and curative medicine that would not unduly burden its welfare system. This is not an easy task. There is a wide diversity of experiences and realities even among the women of the third world. Those of us who stiffer from colonialization know Our struggles for better health therefore, it has been the life conditions of women in the first world, their struggles and their interpretations of reality that have dominated early efforts. But we must not replicate among us the prevailing world order of subservient and oppressive relations among cultures and nations. To avoid this, we must give affirmation to the voices of women, who because of structural inequalities that are at play within our ranks, are unlikely to be heard. very well that lo univertalizts-adr-ownexperiences as those of a mythical singularity call the "Third World" fall into the same trap of dominating others. And yet, if we are to arrive at genuine solidarity of women's voices in resistance that would topple the world patriarchal order, then we must give full play to this diversity. DIFFERENCES SYSTEMS IN HEALTH CARE the situations of women worldwide. When we speak of the third world, we do not speak of geographical boundaries. The majority of women in the neo-colonies and play in these societies and therefore, in the health care system. Regardless of the wide differences in the health care systems of the socialist countries, however, what is obvious is that whatever liberation results from the effort at disassociating a society and its health care system from the world capitalist system does not translate automatically into the liberation of women from sexism in health care. experiences of women worldwide remind third world women that our struggle for health care must be comprehensive. Our call for increased health care coverage must The simultaneously be a call for a health care system that is non-sexist, non-racist, noncolonial and genuinely caring. THE EXPLOITATION PRODUCTIVE AND OF WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE Because even as we consider issues of quality and control over health care, we are faced with the more fundamental task of providing services where there are none. This leads to very real dilemmas such as whether it is in the interest of women to seek the expansion of westernized and patriarchal government services to the rural areas or to have nothing at all The experiences of women in the socialist There are indeed fundamental differences in of race, class and nationality were still at In the neo-colonies, however, the demands of the populace for adequate health care and other basic services have been met not with appeasement, but with repression. Because the neo-colonies are a source of cheap and unskilled labour, there is no need to prolong life nor increase the productivity of individual workers. In the third world, health care is only available to a small elite who must serve as the overseers of imperialist hegemony. For the large number of the third world population, there has been an absolute lack of health care throughout modern history. For even as colonialism has murdered indigenous, oftentimes female traditions and skills in health care, it has not replaced this with anything but those elements of westernized health care that are disempowering, profitmaking, or both. theory. Unintentionally, perhaps inevitably, genuine economic and political democracy. As people in these countries have gained their voices because of the increased democratic space, we have seen how issues countries are particularly intrusive with regards to alternative visions for those of us working in the neo-colonial states. We know The lack of state-provided health care in the third world is premised on the exploitation of women, the task of providing care for their families becomes the privatized nightmare of poor women. It is these women who must expend so much effort and endure so much pain to provide even the most basic of It is women who must work long hours to get water, food and cooking fuel. needs. It is women who must face the humiliation of begging for medical service for themselves and their families from the token health institutions that are available. that the ascendancy of an avowedly noncapitalist state does not necessarily translate Furthermore, high birth rates are a testimony large numbers of those in the industrialized nations suffer in conditions that result from the interwoven effects of nations, race, class and gender oppression.. into better health care for the population. to the fact that women of the third world must reproduce more so that there will be For the majority of women the quest for We have seen how in Nicaragua, the health is intimately tied up with the struggle to end overwhelming poverty brought about by the unjust international economic order. There are wide differences in the expenditures of these women as compared commendable gains in health care carried who survive, especially the women, are taken into m_ ultinational ventures such as out by the Sandinista government were eroded by the total was unleashed on the country by US imperialism. We know that plantations, garments and electronics industries. There, the lack of occupational health and safety infrastructure, job security, the health care system in Nicaragua was a particular target of this war. adequate pay and other forms of worker to their more fortunate sisters in terms of access to the most basic of services - education, basic sanitation, adequate water supply, decent housing, adequate maternal care, child support systems. We have noted with enthusiasm the struggle of our sisters in the so-called developed countries for a redefinition of the health care system that would end medical control over women's bodies. We can appreciate their efforts at curtailing the profiteering that is passed off by the health care establishment as medical expertise and technology. We are aware of the fact that state financial support of the patriarchal state has imposed its technologies on women's bodies even as it ignores their well-being. The quality and coverage of the health care system have varied even in socialist countries for a number of reasons. enough who will survive the negligence and inhumanity that has led to high infant mortality rates. And those of our children protection lead to their severe exploitation. It is not unusual to hear stories of women workers who have spent their teenage and early adulthood in these industries and who in their late twenties are discharged after having developed serious work-related disabilities. At this young age, they are unemployed and because they have become otherly-abled, will unlikely find future employment. Yet if the conditions of third world women in the factories of transnational corporations is appalling, it is worse for domestic outworkers who do piecemeal, subcontractual work in garments and other cottage industries. Because the work is done in the home, the protection that could PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 8 �be afforded by labour unions seeking the enforcement of whatever minimum wage, occupational health and safety and other protective laws is lost. In these situations, the extreme undervaluation of their labour forces women and even their children to work dangerously long hours for a pittance. Whether we speak in the context of the struggles within the nations or on an international scale, the liberation of one woman must continue to be premised on including feminist groups to provide these services, the net result has been disastrous for large numbers of women and their families. the liberation of all. POPULATION PROGRAMS AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS The implications of an unwanted pregnancy for the majority of Philippine women are affected by their poverty and powerlessness. The lack of contraceptive services, the It is in a literal sense therefore that we say that women are sacrificed to profit in the third world. The local ruling elite in client states following IMF-WB dictates seeks to Population programs are another major form of control over women's bodies and reproductive capacities worldwide. But influence of a culture that places the entire burden of fertility control on women, and the absence of knowledge about sexuality, have attract foreign investments by offering cheap and docile labour. Transnational racist considerations are at the core of this patriarchal power exercise. It is the poor of corporations and the state assume that women workers are particularly suited to the third world that are the most likely to suffer from the most abusive and coercive aspects of these programs. It is the poor contributed to a large number of women being trapped in a never-ending cycle of pregnancy and childbirth that has had work in dull and labour intensive areas such as garments and electronics because of women's superior manual dexterity, docility and willingness to accept less pay. This imposed docility of women workers is in truth instituted and maintained by a repressive state machinery. In export processing zones in the Philippines and other countries like Pakistan, Malaysia and however, women have shown strength and courage in various forms of resistance. The continuing struggles of Mexico these women workers, and women workers everywhere, are pushing the lie to patriarchal propaganda about women's passivity. More importantly, their efforts are a vital component of the worldwide struggle against capitalist patriarchy. But the super-exploitation of third world women has not just taken place within our national boundaries. In the Philippine experience for example, we are seeing the increasing feminization of migrant labour along with the increasing exploitation which includes various forms of sexual violence. Whether they are women whose marriages Crave been arranged through agencies, women who have been forced into prostitution, domestic workers, or nurses, overseas work has taken on the character of reproductive work for third world migrant women. Whether and the colored who are extremely likely to be the subject of forced sterilizations, unethical biomedical testing and the marketing of unsafe contraceptive technologies. It is in fact, poor women who must bear the burden of having their fertility faulted for the poverty that is brought about by social injustice and imperialist exploitation. The hypocrisy of patriarchal concern for women's health that is now being used as a rationale for population control discernible. is easily Because even as women are exhorted to use contraceptives for their health, the ready access to safe and effective contraception guided by informed choice does not exist for poor women. Furthermore, we are stigmatized and punished for demanding our rights to safe and legal abortions as a means of exersizing ultimate control over our reproductive functions. Fertility management services are fundamental to ensuring the health and reproductive rights of women. The provision of these services, including access to safe abortions carried out in an atmosphere of respect for women's dignity and moral agency, are necessary to the exercise of women's reproductive rights. the form taken is that labour power or that of the more sinister workings of international white slavery syndicates, the international economic order through banks, airlines, communication enterprises and travel agencies profit from the sale of women's bodies. Through enforced double taxation of migrant workers, third world governments have realized tremendous profits from women who must Freedom of Choice Liberte de choix It is on the issue of contraception and Capitalism in the industrialized world has In the Philippines, pro-natalist groups have one group, sector, class, of women. even as they claim to be nationalist in opposing imperialist control and hypocrisy over population programs, they nonetheless fail to see the connection between patriarchal control over women's bodies and imperialist hegemony. The struggle to uphold the reproductive rights of women in socialist states on the other hand, is also extremely difficult. This shows us that it is the framework in which the contraceptive technology is used and not just its availability, which determines its impact on women. Male controlled states withdraw or provide contraceptive technology depending on their particular political ends to the detriment of women's bodies. In the interests of the "one-child-policy" of the People's Republic of China, contraceptive technology, including abortion, is indeed accessible. This accessibility has On the other extreme, we have noted with abortion rights that women most clearly see the intricate and intimate relations between patriarchal state and patriarchal religion. Third world women struggling for the right to autonomy over their bodies, inevitably realize the power that fundamentalist religious hierarchies exercise over a compliant state. that we cannot achieve liberation for only Some of these pro-natalist groups claim to be pro-women, even feminist, yet they are guilty of insensitivity to the heartbreaking stories of thousands of women about the effects of unwanted pregnancies. Similarly, fetuses. governments to drastically cut expenditures while preserving the profits of the drug and medical technology industries that comes from state supported health care and preventing the overly rapid decline of health service coverage. women's productive and reproductive labour. But the never ceasing crisis brought about by the capitalist development is leading to the increasing use of third world migrant women to bolster the economy of the imperialist nations within their national boundaries. This situation reminds us again line. number of abortions especially of female families in foreign countries. been built on the arrogation by men of new child reduces the resources for survival of families already living below the poverty of severe restriction of their fertility. Coupled with the use of technology for pre-natal sex determination, there have been a high seek the means to the survival of their world women that is allowing first world Large numbers of these women die because of unsafe abortions. Additionally, the birth of each been coupled with the most coercive laws and measures that ensure that couples will have only one child. The result has been to place women's bodies on the line because of government-sponsored export of women's An analysis of the international circulation of women's bodies and their labour highlights the interrelations of patriarchy and capitalism. In the health care system for example, it is the undervalued labour of third disastrous consequences. consistently opposed contraceptive technologies especially abortion. These groups have reinforced the opposition of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to the government's meagre efforts at providing contraceptive services for women. The influence of the Roman Catholic Church and these groups have effectively nullified whatever aid government could have offered to women. In the light of the still limited capacities of the non-governmental sector, horror, the excesses of the Ceaucescu regime in Roumania where women were reduced to mere baby producers. The Ceaucescu government not only denied contraception and especially, abortion, it also used the powers of the police state to impose and monitor pregnancies on women. While they continue to blame poverty and environmental degradation on women's fertility, population dictators nevertheless see the need to encourage, and in some cases force, those they consider "superior" women to give birth. Oftentimes, superiority is determined by the whiteness of one's skin, although the experience of Japanese women should alert us to the fact that there is more to racism than the arbitrary valuation of genetically determined differences. THE ENVIRONMENT, ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY AND GENETIC REPORDUCTIVE Equally hypocritical is the concern of the population program mainstream over the issue of environmental degradation and increased population. Funded by the World Bank and the USAID, the population control PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 9 �quo is unable to admit that multinational corporations using the technology spawned by patriarchal science, are still the major cause of environmental degradation. Various industries including mining and logging continue to exploit and pollute the increasingly scarce resources of the third world. In the struggle for land, status multinational corporations have disenfranchised indigenous communities from ecosystems that they have developed over several generations. This has resulted in the emigration of these indigenous communities to other areas with resultant pressures on the overall ecological balance. its advocacy of economic policies that promote imperialism, capitalist agencies In such as the IMF and World Bank have promoted a model of development that has resulted in large discrepancies in the economic development between urban and rural areas in many third world countries. Laying the blame for the sad state of the world's environment on the fertility of women, is an ideological distortion that denies the fact that it is women, concerned as they are with the nurturing of life in its variety and interconnection, that are the most potent threat to the economic order their lesbianism as a political option and that self-identification in this sense is essential to political action. But we suggest that prevailing cultural against colored women; how women of tt definitions are one starting point from which we construct our political options. If this is so, then efforts at international cooperation among lesbians must take into consideration the differing cultural and material conditions that lead to gendered constructions of human types. As a more immediate step, we encourage deeper sharing and understanding between lesbians and third world women coming from various cultural backgrounds and who, for whatever reasons, do not identify themselves as lesbians. farms offer the bodies of poor third world realize he first world and members of ruling elites haN participated in the economic exploitation third world women; how women fro dominant cultures tend to universalize the experiences and thereby deny the reality others; how the intellectuals among us CE fall into the trap of allowing decontextualizE discourse to divide us over interpretations a reality that cannot be decontextualized; ho the non-academics among us stand in ttway of necessary theorizing by insistir always on the primacy of praxis. There is a single continuum that spans the differing perspectives and standpoint Genuine global solidarity can be gained frog know only too well that we do come frog control of and sexuality as institutionalized in modern day families, is the bedrock upon which stands a dominant male political culture that legitimizes militarism and fascism worldwide. a dynamic interaction between first and thir world persepctives on the issues of women health and reproductive rights. In order to d this we must struggle to develop a third worl persepective and framework, that would stan as counterpoint to the fast-developing and fin world tradition. We need to emphasize that third world perspective and framework mu: come from third-world women themselves The male political ideology provides the rationalization for the militarism and fascism and the creation of global war machineries. knowledge, from their own interpretations their present realities and their aspirations fc the future. violence that men do to the environment, the individual The already..brisk trade of babies from the third world to the first world is acquiring a more horrendous character with reports of the establishment of "baby farms". These a need for us to heterosexual women have participated in tf prejudice against lesbian women; how whi women have participated in the prejudic We seek balanced perspectives because \A. women's oppression, it can bring untold misery to the women of the third world. There is AGAINST WOMEN AND VIOLENCE MILITARISM Indeed in its most advance form, patriarchal within the context of racist and national in circumstances that permit us to bene from other forms of oppression again women. violence of militarism, the hidden violence committed against individual women by engineering is already threatening the health and integrity of women in all nations. Taken is a reality that while all of us share o But we must seek a political construction of lesbianism that can be validated across all societies. We know that gender categories can vary markedly across cultures. We do not deny the role that patriarchy plays in the construction of gender in almost all cultures. that iis violating nature and life. science has threatened the very nature of reproduction and the integrity of all life. The technology of reproductive and genetic It gender oppression, many of us find ourselvr men. Patriarchal bodies In our country, US military bases serve as the staging point for war within the region and are a source of nuclear threat to our own people. These bases have also brought with them untold suffering to the women in the base communities. women as surrogate mothers who will surely agree to these arrangements as a result of economic need rather than genuine choice. Because of their economic despair, we can also see that third world women are every conceivable form of sexual violence and increasingly the source of ovaries, wombs and other body parts that are necessary to the continuation of research and medical sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, which came to the base through US servicemen. from their own traditions of struggle an Sylvia Estrada-Claudio is a medical doctor active in women's health issues in the Philippines, and member of the GABRIELA commission on Women's Health. Prostituted women and children suffer from oppression at the hands of US servicemen. There has been no adequate protection from activities that have resulted from genetic and reproductive engineering. The While violence from the state is a reality for dismemberment and alienation of women's bodies in this way add yet another dimension to the violence committed against women. women everywhere, it must be noted that the level of repression is much higher in the neocolonies where severe economic exploitation evokes resistance which in turn requires military repression. SEXUALITY AND LESBIANISM In its most intimate form the male ideology of power and violence seeks to dictate on women's sexuality by trapping it into the narrow confines of a heterosexism that must be sanctioned by state and religion. Heterosexism has denied women so much happiness and pleasure and has brought upon us instead untold mental, emotional and physical suffering. We recognize the distinctiveness of the struggle of lesbians against discrimination and the right to the choice of sexual orientation. But we affirm that all women have a stake in putting an end to the patriarchial construction of normaltive Rape, arbitrary arrest and detention, summary execution, and torture are but a few of the human rights violations suffered by countless women who have dared to merge their struggle for women's emancipation with the struggle for national sovereignty. It must be pointed out that although each woman deals with the minute details of a reality determined by multiple oppressions, that all these injustices are summed up in the preservation of a global economic order that breeds violence against women in all areas of life. sexuality. IN SEARCH OF BALANCED PERSPECTIVES: THE CHALLENGE OF It is our belief that up to this point there is a WOMEN dominant western perspective in theorizing on lesbianism. We know only too well that gender/sexual categories are socially constructed. In our own work we have wondered why it has been more difficult for women in our culture to self-identify as lesbians. We perceive that feminist lesbian WOMEN'S ARCHIVES The Canadian Women's Movement canadiennes du Archives/Archives movement des femmes is compiling a guide to the records of the contemporary Canadian women's movement. This bilingual guide, to be published in 1992, will help scholars and activists locate records (i.e. minutes, reports, correspondence, photographs, posters, etc.) of the many women's groups which have existed in Canada since 1960. Questionnaires are being sent to about 2500 organizations whose records will hopefully be listed in the guide. Included are women's organizations, groups which focus on women's issues, and feminist committees within larger organizations such as unions and ethnocultural organizations. The Archives would be glad to hear from any organization that may have been missed, If there is a message that comes from our own struggle in the Philippines, it is that our struggle to end patriarchy cannot be taken apart from other struggles to end national oppression, feudal exploitation and racism. and from any individual who has the records of a woman's group. (Often when a group disbands, a member will preserve its records.) For further information contact Susan Shea, Box 128, Station P, Toronto, M5S 2S7, phone 416-597-8865. women in the west have correctly constructed PDFNorthern compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Woman Page 10 �WOMEN CREATING REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM Excerpted from an article prepared by Women's Health Interaction During the past several years the international women's movement has made reproductive health a focus for education, organizing, networking and advocacy. Increasingly, issues of fertility control, new reproductive technologies (NRTs) and access to safe and effective birth control have topped the agenda of women in both the First and Third worlds. A Women and Health conference in Costa Rica in 1987 called on women worldwide to document their experiences with population control programs as a way of collecting evidence that many of these programs abuse women. In Bangladesh in 1989, a conference organized by FINRRAGE on the topic of Women Uniting Against Cases of abuse have been documented in many countries - women were sterilized without their knowledge or approval (sometimes literally tied down to the operating table, without proper anesthetic); women were offered food or money during times of crisis to accept sterilization or contraception; drugs and devices which have been linked to cancer in research studies and other health problems in the West have been marketed aggressively in the Third World. from over 30 countries to look at reproductive and genetic engineering. The conference focussed on how these technologies impact on women and can intensify the existing differences among people in terms of race, class, caste, sex and religion. In November of 1990 women's groups in the Philippines hosted a major international conference entitled "In Search of Balanced Perspectives and Global Solidarity for Women's Health and Reproductive Rights" which was attended by several hundred women. .4410 In Canada, the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies recently wound up a series of public hearings across the country which gave women's groups, the health profession and others an opportunity to raise concerns about NRTs and the need for clearer ethical and legal guidelines for the use of these technologies. Three years ago, women's groups, NGOs, health workers and many others joined a national Coalition on Depo Provera to oppose approval of this drug for use as a contraceptive in Canada. Public (CACSVV) will give the keynote address at the (NRTs) to determine the sex of a child in-vitro, often leading to aborting the child if it is female. Women in the South and the North are recruited as surrogate mothers and paid for the use of their bodies. Aborted fetuses are FOR CHANGE: Listening, Learning, Speaking Out. sold for use in the cosmetic industry. Aboriginal peoples, and community issues, is a dynamic speaker and will provide a powerful Genetic and reproductive engineering, as well as population control programs, are promoted on the grounds that they solve problems such as hunger, disease and environmental degradation. In reality, however, they divert attention away from the real causes of these problems and are incapable of solving them. and thought-provoking introduction to what are being used extensively Nor do they respond to women's demands and needs, such as access to resources, income, employment, social security and a who has a long-standing involvement with women, racial minorities, promises to be an energizing and challenging weekend. Dr. Simms' address will focus on the feminization of poverty, violence against women, and the experiences of women who are doubly disadvantaged by race, ethnicity, language or disability. The conference, which is organized by the Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Social and economic injustice will never be Thunder Bay, beginning Friday evening Nov. 1st and concluding at noon Sunday, Nov. 3rd. addressed by population dehumanizing technologies. control and Workshops covering a range of issues violence against women, health, aging, During the past several years, more and more international donor countries have emphasized population control as an economics, freedom from fear, Native culture, immigrant and visible minority women, important element of development; many Third World governments have adopted policies and programs which divert funding State - will be held on Saturday. away from basic health care for women to the purchase of contraceptives and the financing of massive campaigns designed to reduce women's fertility rates. At the same time, many countries in the North have offered incentives to couples to have more children. Non-Governmental needs. Development Again, these programs do not by the FDA, after years of (questionable) address women's real health needs and can even make women's position more marginal. testing in Third World countries such as Brazil and Bangladesh. The manufacturers of both Recently, many environmental groups have Norplant and Depo are expected to file for called for control of population growth in order approval with Health and Welfare Canada this year. Women's groups in the North and to curb the effects on environments in the Third World. Environmental degradation is South are concerned that these drugs have not been proven safe and do not see the blamed on overpopulation while issues related to resource distribution and economic value in introducing them. structures, are virtually ignored. All over the world, women are struggling for Increasingly, women around the world have come to view population control as an abuse of women's rights and basic human rights. Women are demanding that development be programs and health services which meet the real needs of women. Often, in the absence of these programs, and in the context of high maternal and infant mortality rates, malnutrition and lack of sanitary conditions, women are instead targetted by governments for population control programs. Incentives Simms, Council, will be held at the Red Oak Inn, Organizations (NGOs) have also supported population control programs, often described as family planning, and as meeting women's demanding more appropriate health care. There is a great need for family planning Dr. safe environment at work and at home. hearings followed this initiative, and many more control over their own bodies and Glenda Simms, President of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women forthcoming conference WOMEN UNITING groups made links between the use of drugs such as Depo Provera on women in the Third World and women in Canada. Recently, the implant Norplant was approved CONFERENCE In addition, New Reproductive Technologies Dehumanizing Technologies brought together 150 women GLENDA SIMMS TO KEYNOTE creating community, and struggles with the Guest speaker Saturday evening is Lorraine Sinclair, Executive Director of the Mother Earth Healing Society, Edmonton. Lorraine Sinclair has worked extensively on environmental issues and Native education from the local to the international level. A talented photo-journalist, speaker, educator, and program developer, Lorraine Sinclair continues to be involved in cross-cultural education as a means of raising public awareness to Native culture and history. She will speak on Healing Ourselves, Healing Mother Earth - how people issues tie in with environmental issues. Women and the Corporate Agenda is the subject of an address Sunday morning. Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, will speak to the issues women experience as Canada is undergoing profound economic, social and philosophical change. For more information concerning the WOMEN UNITING FOR CHANGE conference call Decade Council at 683-5662. seen as a human right, and that family planning programs be placed in a context of social, economic and political change which empowers women. and disincentives are introduced, which aim to encourage acceptance of sterilization or adoption of contraception methods. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �NWO WOMEN AND THE ECONOMY The following is a brief presented to the Federal Liberal Task Force on the Northern Ontario Economy by Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council. WHO WE ARE DEFINITION OF DEVELOPMENT In order to understand the present status of women living Northwestern Ontario resource based communities, we offer the following 1989 statistics, based on our research with 956 women from 16 communities. SOCIO-ECONOMIC As an organization, Decade Council defines socio-economic development in the total :90% of the employed women work in traditional female occupation sector of sales, service, health and education. :more than half were highschool graduates with 28% having earned a post secondary degree, certificate or diploma. :56% of the employed women earned less than $20,000. per year with only 17% earning more than $30,000. :80% of the women were married with 67% of their pirtners employed in the community's primary industry, :84% have children. Beyond their commitment to family, employment and community, 55% of the women had been involved in public boards or organizations in the past five years. It is clear that women are experienced decision as 69% makers, executive positions in their community work. Area women are central to Northwestern Ontario's economy; though much of their work had have continues to be invisible. development of this country has been and continues to be an enormous contribution of time, self, energy and ability. They are able to maintain their capacity for personal fulfilment and the survival and well being of job creation and economic growth along with quality of life considerations; adequate and affordable housing, recreation and cultural facilities, traditional as well as alternate educational systems, health care facilities and a full range of support services. Other necessary considerations include accessible 24 hour child care and convenient public transportation." We agree with the United Church of Canada's description of the economy. "The economy is something we share in common. It is the way we put together human and natural resources for the good of the common life. It is a vast collective enterprise and is the domain of no particular sub-group in society. It must be marked by justice, participation and sustainability. Economic development has traditionally been regarded as an arena for only the business and political sectors. Women and their perspectives have generally been excluded. Women must be included in all stages of planning, implementation and evaluation. Development schemes must not perpetuate the assumption that women exist only as dependents of men. husband working account for only 27% of domestic relationships :the husband-wife family with both spouses working now makes up 50% of all families :the single parent family, 82% which are female headed, make up 13% of Canadian families :in the 1990s, one marriage in two will likely end in divorce :4/10 of families headed by women are poor compared to 1/10 of the families headed by men and 72% of elderly poor are women :well over a million of Canada's children live below the poverty line **as the above statistics indicate many women already live in poverty and many others are only a circumstance away from poverty** Socio economic planning must take into account the changing reality of families in the 90s and not be based on an assumption of the traditional family of past generations. Special Offer With This Ad economic development. CWS/cf is dedicating two subsequent issues to the topic of Violence Against Women. The Summer 1991 issue is an overview - looking at the problem in all its manifestations. The Fall 1991 issue considers the strategies being adopted to address that violence. extraction sector is unlikely, economic development will continue at the local level. Socio-economic development resource in areas such You can get both these issues for the low price of $15.00 as CWS/cf will cover postage, GST and even take $1.00 off the cover price! entrepreneurship, information technology, human services and tourism. Canadian Woman Studies Strategies I) Ca"nada <> < ><>< ><>< <><> <><> < ><> < ><> < ><>< ><>< ><>< ><>< > <>< > <> While, here in Northwestern Ontario, we recognize that growth in the traditional place is in :the husband-wife family with only the their families and communities." Women and their work must be integral to sound take in "However, the contribution of women to the economic will The traditional picture of the "family" Northwestern Ontario as changing: sense including: "Reasonable industrial expansion, :61% of women are in the labour force full and part time. FAMILY RONNIES' BED & BREAKFAST ife". 0101t /f Located in downtown Montreal in a quiet luxurious setting, offering first class accommodation for women traveling On business or pleasure. Includes European Continental Breakfast. 783 rue Guy, Montreal, Quebec ll3J ITh ru- Canadian Woman Studies 0 Send me both Issues for the special price of $15.00 O Send me one copy of Violence Against Women 0 Send me one copy of Strategies for Change Single Issue price per copy: $9.56 Name Address City Violence Against Women Prov Postal Code Country All orders must be prepaid. Please enclose cheque or money order made out to CWS/cf. Send to: Canadian Woman Studies 212 Founders College York University, 4700 Keele Street Downsview, ON M3J 1P3 (416) 736-5356 Tc.s1./Fax (5l4) 939-144 Rhona Luber Cantor, Proprietor PDFNorthern compression, OCR, Woman Page 12 web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �EMPLOYMENT TRENDS Employment and Immigration Canada's communities. Outshopping has become a new Canadian word. The Pigeon River border crossing, which serves the relatively Market, small portion of Ontario residents in the November 17, 1990 states that "Ontario's Northwestern Ontario area, reports that $19 million in declared goods were brought across the border in a one year study period report The Ontario Labour seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 2.1 per cent higher than in November 1989". "Since November 1989, nine out of every ten jobs lost were accounted for by men, reflecting the severe downturn in the male dominated manufacturing and construction industries." These figures may be viewed as a trend, This is substantiated by Employment and Immigration Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Skills Development both of which project that while the labour force is growing at only half the rate it was during the 1970s, women's participation will increase and account for workforce within 10 years. half of the While we could interpret this to mean good news for women, we must look at further related statistics: :women earn an average of 65% of male earnings :1988 average female earnings for fulltime, full-year employment were $23,260 :the average family income for single parent employed female headed families was $19,740 ending July 1989 and the Thunder Bay Venture's Report on Outshopping notes that the 37 border points studied report similar increases across the country. Manufacturers and retailers press for additional concession, in their attempts to compete. Canadian and Ontario companies attempt to negotiate salary and benefit freezes or reductions. While we have not yet seen the final results of the original agreement, the Canadian government approaches a Canada/U.S. agreement with Mexico which may have broader ramifications for women. Women from Canada and Mexico alike will experience the effects of this agreement including the possible further exploitation of women workers in Mexico and loss of jobs for Canadian women. year per child fol* licensed child care. economy of Ontario is changing. UNPAID LABOUR In addition to paid employment, the recent Socio Economic Study on Women's Work by the Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council highlighted 69% of the respondents estimated they spend more than 20 hours per week on household tasks. Add to this, the hours of volunteer activities that women contribute to their community and we have a true picture of the double work load women continue to carry. The shift in male and female work force women is one which says first of all that the sexual division of labour is integral and not marginal. THe result of the sexual division paper markets and subsequent downsizing of the male labour force through layoffs resulting in a loss of primary income, (often on under $20,000 per year). An economic framework that includes women would understand what this division of labour means and would do the following: -social ramifications of the stress of economic crisis in terms of violence, work; employment and their subsequent transition to the role of the primary bread winners alcoholism and barriers to participation in community activities due to cost, -the shift in the tax burden from the Federal level to Provincial level and further to the Municipal level, coming at a time when the commercial and industrial tax base is declining, is resulting in cutbacks community based support services. Despite many concerns from across the country, the Federal Government entered into the Canada/U.S. Free Trade Agreement. "Its intent was to improve the of economic and social development of the programs in the world which to date have been undelivered. Ontario's unemployment The continues to creep higher. Unemployment Insurance legislation Bill C21 resulted in replacing insurance has protection with the welfare system. In Thunder Bay alone, welfare payments are up This is 53%, the caseload up 46%. consistent with increases in district :pay women a decent living wage for their :take into account the extra work of raising a child and offer paid maternity and paternity leave for a child's younger years. as in Sweden; :provide good universal childcare. to "WOMEN have not only the right but the obligation to be represented in all aspects its goals. Canadians were promised "jobs, jobs, jobs" and the best adjustment are often left economically dependent on men. Given that in our society money equals power and control, this means that many women have no power and no control over their lives." women FREE TRADE both market-place; with International countries' ability to take measures to public welfare fully preserved." safeguard The agreement appears to be falling short of of labour around the bearing and rearing of children means -decreased disposable incomes, CONCLUSIONS and to strengthen both countries in the economic development mean? An economic framework that includes meantime, participation rates, the disparity in earnings and subsequent disparity in taxable and disposable incomes and the fact that more women will become primary income earners, systemic serious financial and has implications for women: for both traditional for the and non-traditional families; community and for the North. economies of both countries, to strive for full employment and improved living standards, "What does the inclusion of women in Northwestern Ontario the -the necessity for more women to seek The face of the labour force and the The groundwork for the inclusion of women in Economic Development has been developed by women across Canada and applies equally to the women of Northwestern Ontario. These words from a text presented to a conference of North Shore Women, in Terrace Bay in Ontario, October 1985 by Diana Ellis of the Women's Research Centre, Vancouver, B.C., capture our vision for women: women and their families are forced to live with the impact of Ottawa's present economic policies, such as: In -decline in the soft wood and pulp and :61% of women with at least one child under age 6, participate in the labour force and face costs up to $6,000 per Unfortunately barriers continue to prohibit many women's participation. Time, travel and transportation in and from our vast region, the lack of financial resources, the lack of child care and fear make it difficult for women to actively participate. Gender equity on decision making bodies can be achieved through a better understanding of the reality of women's lives. New processes must be designed to ensure their input. "WOMEN have traditionally been excluded The inclusion of women must begin at the beginning and not just because we're partners, by and large, of the men, but because we are people in our own right with contributions to make and needs to be considered. by a failure to raise any questions that specifically concern women in the process of economic development, based on a lack of recognition that these issues are of crucial concern to women." Looking at development from a north. woman's perspective is essential, for it is the women who live in the communities who are most affected by the development decisions which are made by men." If one believes the inclusion of women is important, then it becomes a priority. Yes, it will cost money and yes, the money is there. In fact, we can't afford not to do this. There is a great human and economic cost presently being paid by women who are not afforded the opportunity to reach their potential as Canadian women. "WOMEN must be an integral part of future northern economic decision making and However we will not accept strategies. token representation. We would caution that appointment of individuals cannot reflect the variety of skills and experiences that women bring to the decision making process. The women serving on commissions and committees must reflect the diversity of Representation must womens' lives. include: Aboriginal Women, Francophone Women, Immigrant and Visible Minority Women, Women with Disabilities, Single Parent Female Headed Families and Female Headed Families on Social Assistance. "W.I.M...=1,2A11 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page: �REHABILITATION PROGRAM ACTION (R.A.P.) is a support program for Thunder Bay residents who live daily with the effects of their mental health problems/illness. There are times when they need support. WEAVING MATtER(s) Our program matches individuals and volunteers, one-to-one. Within the match the Congratulations to Sasha McInnes whose individual identifies and works on personal goals. The volunteer provides support and encouragement. exhibition WEAVING MATtER(s) opened September 21 at the London Regional Art and Historical Museums (London, Ontario). Sasha McInnes, a Thunder Bay feminist activist and artist has been spinning, dyeing and weaving this exhibition of thirteen tapestries since 1986. Carole Farber, curator of the exhibition states The tapestries in the exhibition form and will continue to form many narratives, many storylines. They are multivocal, a cacophony of potentiality. Yet, the connecting thread running through all of them is that "weaving matters" (doing it makes a difference), that "weaving matters" are those intimately bound with creating and recreating, resisting and asserting, and that "weaving matters is weaving mater(s)", the attachment of women, mothers and the Goddess Creating is a political act, a statement. Through the complex symbology presented in these tapestries, the viewer will be challenged to engage a patriarchal language." feminist critique of existing institutions, concepts and We eagerly await the opportunity to view this exhibition which will come to the Thunder Bay Art Gallery in February 1992. We are currently seeking volunteers to become part of R.A.P. Orientation and training are provided by program staff. Our goal is for both the individual and the volunteer to experience a sense of personal growth while in the match. It is for this reason that we ask for a time commitment of 2-4 hours per week for six (6) months. We will be pleased to discuss the volunteer opportunities within R.A.P. Please call us. Rosanne Perron Darlene Squissato 345-5564 NORTHERN ONTARIO WOMEN IN TRADES HIGHLIGHTED IN PHOTOJOURNAL BREAKING BARRIERS, a photojournal for and about Northern Ontario women in skilled occupations, has been launched. It highlights 12 women working in occupations ranging from carpenter to autobody repairer. Some are recent high school graduates, others are starting a second career and one is a grandmother, who broke barriers in the 1930's. Six Women's Access to Apprenticeship Projects in Kenora, Timmins, North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay cooperated in preparing the photojournal. The project was sponsored by the Kenora Area Committee for Skill Development, and was coordinated by the Kenora Women's Access to Apprenticeship Steering Committee. BREAKING BARRIERS includes information on training programs and resources available to women in the North. The text is English and French, with sub-titles in Ojibway. An accompanying English/French brochure on how to use the journal as an educational tool for teachers, career counsellors and women has also been developed. .010.1. NWO BREAST SCREENING PROJECT Copies of the brochure and photojournal are available from all Northern Ontario Women's Access The Northwestern Ontario Breast Screening Project, an initiative of the Ontario Ministry of Health is anticipated to start in late fall 1991. The objective of the program is to reduce the mortality from breast cancer by at least 40% in women over the age of 50 years. The program is aimed at women aged 5069 years, but other women will be able to to Apprenticeship offices, Committees for Skill Development and Ministry of Skills Development offices. For more information, contact Marion MacAdam at 468-3698. participate in it. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women in Ontario. The Screening Program will be a testing service for well Cease Fire 1991 One of our sister publications, Pandora, from Halifax is being challenged by a man who claimed he was a victim of sexdiscrimination when Pandora would not print a letter he had written. His complaint has been taken up by the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. 99999 women. A clinical breast exam by a trained nurse examiner and a mammogram will be included in the screening. Early detection of lumps offers the best chance of improving survival rates and reducing the amount of surgery that is necessary. It is envisioned that the Northwestern Ontario Program will have both a screening site in Thunder Bay and a mobile van operating in the region. Dr. Joan Kyle has been appointed as the part time Medical Director. Heather Woodbeck, the Administrative Coordinator, has been involved in women's health issues in Northwestern Ontario for the past ten years. The program is administered through the Thunder Bay Regional Cancer Centre. For further information about the breast screening program, please call 343-1690. Winnipeg's HERizons magazine has decided to "GO FOR IT" AGAIN, this time as a subscriber driven and funded magazine, not reliant on government funding. HERizons features news, book and film reviews, and Heavy backlash to the preliminary report of the Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Patients feminist ideas, in a form that's dynamic, has caused a delay in issuing the final them for info - HERizons, P.O. Box 128, report. The main criticisms are that the Task Force has been too "pro-patient", and about the "feminist bias" of the Task Force. Critics indicate that the "existing system does not need to be changed" diverse and infinitely readable. Please write A new support and self-help group for Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 2G1 survivors of childhood sexual abuse is being formed for women who have gone through individual and group therapy. For more information call Judy at 345-7802. 79999 BLOODLINES: Writings by Lesbian Sisters, is now accepting submissions for this "She is well educated, literate, operates adult literacy and children's programs, oversees public relations, trains and manages staff, and is chief purchaser. She is paid less than the man who cleans the ice between hockey periods. She is a librarian in small town Ontario." upcoming anthology to be published by gynergy books, a lesbian owned feminist press in P.E.I. For queries, submissions and questionnaire please write to Jan and Lynn Andrews, Editors, P.O. Box 4273, Station E, Ottawa, Ontario KiS 5B3 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor liorthehl iNtimah :-Page 14 �WHAT'S NEW IN THE BOOKSTORE Northern As always September has seen a marvelous outpouring of new writing. Some 200 new Woman's titles have been acquired by the Northern Woman's Bookstore in the past few months and more arrive every day. The non-fiction books cover a wide spectrum - healing, Bookstore spirituality, lesbian, literary criticism, feminist theory, herstory - for example: SHAKTI WOMAN: Feeling Our Fire, Healing Our World by Vicki Noble, author of Motherpeace is "... a passionate call for women to reconnect with our goddess heritage and reclaim our ancient powers of healing..." OTHER COUNCIL FIRES WERE HERE BEFORE OURS, by Jamie Sams and Tuylah Nitsch. "A classic Native American creation story as retold by a Seneca elder and her granddaughter. Northern Woman's Bookstore 184 Camelot St. Thunder Bay, Ontario (807) 344-7979 THE AGE OF LIGHT, SOAP AND WATER: Moral Reform in English Canada, 1885-1925, by Mariana Valverde. Laura Davis, author of the Courage to Heal Workbook has published a support book for partners. ALLIES IN HEALING: When the Person You Love Was Sexually gives partners a clear Abused as a Child path for dealing with the survivor's pain, as Calendars FOR PETTICOATS AND PREJUDICE: Women and Law in Nineteenth Century Canada, by Constance Backhouse. 1992 well as their own". DATING VIOLENCE: Young Women Danger, edited by Barrie Levy. NEW THIS YEAR! in DECEPTIVE DISTINCTIONS: Sex, Gender and the Social Order, by Cynthia Fuchs Epstein. EVERYWOMAN'S CALENDAR 1992 BEYOND ACCEPTANCE: Parents of Lesbians and Gays Talk About Their Experiences, edited by Carolyn Welck Griffin, Marian J. 1,1 4,110A a.] -a Cony Wirth and Arthur G. Wirth. 1992 Peace Calendar 11.nnorinklel,mn Ana calendm CONSIDERING PARENTHOOD, by Cheri Pies is a book for lesbians thinking about becoming parents. IL,M1,11 whose rn nnd knenttnemn frona.km,1, IV lir MIN 1.,511.11. 1,1 THE DEMON LOVER: On the Sexuality of Terrorism, by Robin Morgan "... brings a startling perspective to terrorism, which (Morgan) sees as arising out of patriarchial societies' emphasis on domination and violence. power, control, 59.95 TM dansinnt crew. In A ...on* VIRGINIA WOOLF: The Impact of Childhood atnn angh ennienn,nr, mope, miltOnalque+ Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work, by Louise DeSalvo. and much more !! WHO CARES: The Crisis in Canadian Nursing, by Sarah Jane Growe. Topping the list in the Fiction category is We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Anne Cameron's latest book KICK THE CAN, and WILDERNESS TIPS, new stories by Margaret Atwood. readers will be pleased to know we have Cameron's ESCAPE TO BEULAH back in stock. Over the past months the best selling fiction titles have been Bronwen Wallace's PEOPLE YOU'D TRUST YOUR LIFE TO, and SOJOURNER'S TRUTH by Lee Maracle. you haven't read these, do! If Other new fiction: THE WILD BLUE YONDER, by Audrey Thomas THE EDUCATION OF HARRIET HATFIELD, by May Sarton FOX, by Margaret Sweatman THE HUSBAND, by Dorothy Livesay GUYANA BETRAYAL, by Norma DeHaarte Keep on top of your reading IN AND OUT OF TIME: Lesbian Feminist Fiction, edited by Patricia Duncker. The Bookstore also has in stock over 40 calendars and date books, ranging from Remarkable Women to the Lunar Calendar, from the Well-Bred Cat to Quilts, as well as the always popular Everywoman's Almanac and Herstory. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Pagejt �COMING Ontario Ontario Women's Directorate BALANCING PAID WORK AND FAMILY Direction generate de la condition feminine de ('Ontario This innovative one-day workshop is designed as a training tool to assist you in developing "family-friendly" policies and programs in your workplace. A wide and innovative array of familyresponsive policies will be reviewed. RESOURCE CENTRE EVENTS L'EQUITE D EMPLOI, C'EST QUO!? Date: les 30, 31 octobre et le ler novembre 1991. 16H - 12H Endroit: Hotel Holiday Inn, Sudbury, telephone: (705) 675-1123 Frais d inscription: 160.50 $ par personne (TPS incluse) WORKSHOP CONTENT The Resource Centre is still in the process of being catalogued and put on computer. This has not stopped women and students in their pursuit of knowledge. With the increase of students in Women's Studies at the university our doors will be swinging off their hooks. UNSETTLING RELATIONS: The University as a Site of Feminist Struggles. Essays of Himani Bannerji, Linda Carty, Kari Dehli, Kate McKenna and Northwestern Ontario's own Susan Heald. Module 1 Setting the Scene - You and the Issues Module 2 The Big Picture - Workforce Trends - Changing Families - New Partnerships Module 3 QUEST FOR RESPECT: A Healing Guide for Survivors of Rape. Linda Braswell. Planning for Change - Managers as Change Agents - Communications - Options for Balance BACK TO HOME AND DUTY: Women' Module 4 Between the Wars, 1918-1939. Deirdre Beddoe. OVER THE HILL: Reflections on Ageism Between Women. Baba Cooper. RECOVERING FROM INCEST: Imagination and the Healing Process. Evangeline Kane. FEMINIST FRAMEWORKS: Alternative Theoretical Accounts of the Relations between Women and Men; Second edition. Alison M. Jaggar and Paula S. Rothenberg. THE POLITICS OF RAPE: The Victim's Perspective. The victims of rape speak out! Diana E.H. Russell. Frais de voyage: Dans la mesure ou le budget nous le permettra, nous rembourserons jusqu'a la moitie des frais de voyage. Le budget etant limite, nous accorderRns une inderntiisation de voyage selon la reglede "premiere personne arrivee, premiere servie" en tIchant de favoriser les personnes des regions eloignees du Nord. Ateliers - Initiation a requite d'emploi - Precedes de recrutement et de selection - Les droits de la personne et requite d'emploi - Objectifs quantitatifs et plan de releve Table ronde Action Planning - Individual - Organizational "Comment amenager un milieu de travail diversifie et equitable" YOU WILL LEARN TO "Pleins feux sur les barrieres qui font obstacle a requite d emploi" identify work and family pressures affection employees in the workplace recognize the organizational benefits of accommodating work and family responsibilities understand the diversity in families outline what role managers, workers and organizations play in making work environments responsive to family obligations generate an action plan to implement change. WHO SHOULD ATTEND GOODBYES AND HELLOS We at Women's Directorate, and the women of Ontario, have experienced quite a few changes since published. AUDIO-VISUALS HIDDEN FEELINGS: Produced by child support workers of Central Alberta Women's Emergency Shelter for children who have witnessed violence. WOMEN IN THE 40s and 50s: a wonderful compilation of films about women during the 40s and 50s reflecting values and attitudes of that time. ALL IN A DAY'S WORK: Developed as a Change Agent project with Xerox Canada Inc. this video outlines business issues and benefits which are part of an emerging issue - work with family responsibilities. FEE was resigned her position as Minister "because of the necessity to focus on my own health The fatigue from ongoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments made it impossible to fulfill the demands of a cabinet minister. We wish her well and hope that she does take care of herself so that she may continue to work for the women of Ontario. Marion Boyd has been appointed TIME AND DATE Minister Responsible for Women's Issues. Ms. Boyd will take on this portfolio in addition to her role as Minister of Education. Tuesday, November 26, 1991 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. for one day. Morning refreshments and lunch will be provided. Subsidies are available. Call Joan Keehn at 475-6380, or Irene Mitchell at 475-6417 (collect) for further information. solutions dan les entreprises par la necessity croisante d'integrer le travail et les responsabilities familiales. Ce documentaire as We welcome Marion knowing her varied background and involvement in women's issues. Eleanor Meslin, Assistant Deputy Minister, has also left the Directorate recently for a position with Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations. On October 21, 1991 we will welcome Shirley Hoy as our new ADM to the Directorate. Shirley has had an impressive a ete cree dans le cadre du programmes 1111.0r4,0. Journal $149.54 + $10.46 (GST) = $160.00 LE TRAVAIL AT LA FAMILLE: Documentaire qui presente les problemes et Agent de Changement avec la collaboration de Xerox Canada Inc. last On September 11, 1991, Anne Swarbrick, Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, needs". Human resource staff, line managers, and employment equity practitioners who want to learn more about developing policies and programs to accommodate paid work and family responsibilities. the This page is sponsored by the Ontario Women's Directorate. The material contained on it may be photocopied and distributed without permission, but with credit to the original source or the Ontario Women's Directorate. career with the Municipality of Metro Toronto in several positions - Executive Director of Metro Chairman's Office; General Manager, Administration; Director of Community Services. She has also been involved in the community and sits as a member on several Boards of Directors. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 16 �Second Class Mall deg 'strolls. No. 5697 MAIL TO: RETURN TO: THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. BOX 144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 ( Return Postage Guaranteed IS THERE AN ASTERISK ON YOUR LABEL ?? PLEASE RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Don't forget to renew your SUBSCRIPTION NAME ADDRESS POSTAL CODE Individual $ 6.00 Institutional $12.00 NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4V5 C011eatireiv Pir°dUCe4 IIIINEsdiuNDERs 000001 ts01/4°P°11j)l's COe JOHNSTON MARGARET ***************************************************************** Northern Woman 13-ourncti .11BOANI .01.b 11.411/ PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 13 No 4 Description An account of the resource Vol. 13, No. 4 (November 1991) Title: Northern Woman Journal Topics include: Women voting power 15 years of Women’s Decade Council Sexual harassment Rape shield law struck down Global solidarity for women’s health and reproductive rights Population programs and reproductive rights Exploitation of women’s productive and reproductive labour Genetic engineering and reproductive technology Sexuality & lesbianism Violence against women and militarism Canadian Women’s Movement Archives Women creating reproductive freedom Northern women and the economy Socioeconomic development Employment trends Free trade Rehabilitation Action Program Breast screening project Northern Woman’s Bookstore Authors/contributors: Margaret Phillips Charlotte Holm Janet Seekins Doreen Boucher Sylvia Estrada-Claudio Rosanne Perron Darlene Squissato Ontario Women’s Directorate Rae Ann Honey Jane Saunders Margaret Johnston Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-11 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2825/1992_Vol_14_No_1.pdf 16e8f2eb66da1dc98fb0eb2dfa6fd599 PDF Text Text CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 1992 °Hearts starve as well as bodies Give us bread, but give us roses, too. 01 MARCH 1992 c) $2.00 720 iii 1 VOLUME 14 No 1 3 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �TWO STEPS BACK Women are expendable. message of government. the federal This is the Conservative In the past weeks we have had a budget speech, and a series of announcements and proposals that will have a dramatic, negative impact on women. not requiring family allowance appear to operate on the assumption that family income is shared within marriage. They 20,000 nurses, clerks and secretaries are owed $1 billion. So much for the federal government's rhetoric about equality. must be reminded that no such law exists in Canada. Family law reform should precede any tampering with family allowance universality. Women and women's groups have suffered disproportionately from federal budget restraints since the Tories took office. But These measures will ensure a reversal of the minute progress that women have made in our quest for economic and social equality. Abandonment of universality has long been an (hidden) agenda of the Tories. Failure to protect the universality of family allowances will be a stepping stone to eliminating somehow, we must find the energy to mobilize against this latest outrage. ########################## universal medicare and universal old age The federal government: security. *plans to abolish the universal family allowance program *has scrapped the long-promised Following quickly on the heels of the budget national child care strategy *has cancelled the court challenges program *plans drastic cuts to the Canadian Job Strategy (training) program *has eliminated its cooperative housing program *will not obey Human Rights Commission orders for retroactive pay equity display of crassness, Health Minister Benoit Bouchard announced the day care plan was dead, and instead dollars would be spent on "a big advertising campaign" against child abuse - as well as the child poverty measures indicated in the budget. adjustments for its lowest paid female employees. The government has also made an ugly intrusion into Canadians' privacy by declaring the "common law" relationships will be treated as "married" for tax purposes (ie. a single parent mother will be financially penalized if she shares a roof with a man. It's only a few years since we succeeded in stopping the provincial and municipal governments snopping into FBA recipients bedrooms - now the fells will do it.) interconnectedness of all these measures must be viewed as a strategy to enforce women's dependence on men, and The to ensure an accelerated feminization of came the announcement that the federal government would not proceed with a national child care strategy. In an ultimate Does the Health Minister not realize that the child care movement, the anti-violence movement and anti-poverty advocates share the same goals? And that we will not be dissuaded from our advocacy by this attempt to pit us against one another? The scrapping of the national child care plan has much more to do with the current constitution debate than it does with federal funding plans, as development of national standards for programs (which would benefit all Canadians) does not mesh with the Tories desire for devolution of responsibility to the provinces. directed into a new child benefit package In contrast to the government's continued institutional woman-battering, the Supreme Court has again provided a ray of hope for women with its February 27, 1992 ruling on pornography (see p. 15) ). However, this is a classic case of one step forward....two "targeted" for disadvantaged families. While reform of the family benefits system is long and Action Fund (LEAF) - an intervenor in the case - is one of the groups affected by poverty. A rationale provided for eliminating universal family allowances is that the dollars thus saved, along with the child tax credit, will be overdue, the heralding of this announced reform as a move to eliminate child poverty, and a fairer system is seriously deceptive. While some low-income families will receive increased benefits, anti-poverty advocates make it clear that the program will do little to address child poverty. The program is also discriminatory - it gives the additional benefits to working families - thus further ghettoizing women and children on family benefits who will receive no more than at present. At the same time as the government penalizes single mothers who are not in the paid labour force, it further restricts these women's ability to seek employment by refusing to address the day care crisis. But it is the issue of universality that's the most troubling and has the most wideranging consequences. Scrapping universal family allowances sets us back almost fifty years. When the program was introduced in 1945, it gave recognition of a societal responsibility to Canadian families. By directing the family allowances to mothers, it also redognized (however modestly) the importande of a woman's mothering role. It must also be remembered that for thousands of women the family allowance is the only disposable income they will ever see until they turn 65 and receive old age security. (Government and malestream media palaver about high income families steps back, as the women's Legal Education the elimination of the Court Challenges Program funding. The Court Challenges Program, which was initiated several years ago to help disadvantaged groups...women, minorities, disabled, etc..has financed groups in test cases and legal challenges. Cancelling this innovative and important program will silence the voices of poor people. Critics of the cuts believe that the program "offended the powerful", thus the cuts should be seen for their political implications, as the financial savings realized are minimal. In addition to the day care dilemma, women's entry into me paid work force is further restricted by funding cuts to the Canadian Job Strategy program. This program, which provides training for unemployed workers not on UIC has been of particular help to women, immigrants and young people. It is estimated that up to 10,000 people could be affected. Low-paid women in the federal public service have been waiting for pay equity adjustments since 1984. The Tories have decided that they will make no further payments owing for the period before November 1990. Further, they will take MORE CHEERS FOR DECADE Since the last Northern Woman Journal issue when we featured Decade's herstory, has organized two Decade Council significant - amazing - events. The Women Uniting for Change Conference held in November was an exciting energizing consciousness raising weekend for the 300 plus women who participated. Inspiring speeches, informative and healing workshops, and an action-packed resolutions session empowered women to renew our efforts for economic, social and political change. This Journal issue features excerpts from keynote addresses given by Glenda Simms and Lorraine Sinclair, as well as Teresa Trainer's study that was reported at the Immigrant and Visible Minority Women's Workshop. The final conference session provided over 40 action resolutions covering economic and political concerns including health, education, housing, transportation, violence issues, child care, safety, Native issues, concerns of women with disabilities, sexism, racism, homophobia, gender equality, the justice system, taxation, and UIC. The most significant recommendation has already been achieved with the holding of the Ontario Cabinet Forum on February 24 which provided the opportunity for Northwestern Ontario women to directly discuss our issues with Cabinet Ministers and their senior political and bureaucratic (The next NWJ issued will provide staff. greater detail on this Forum.) "legislative action" to overrule any decision of the Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal dealing with this issue. The Public Service Alliance of Canada estimates that Congratulations to Decade Council for their splendid work in organizing these important events. PDF Northern compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Woman Page 2 �WOMEN UNITING Excerpts from an address to the Women Uniting for Change Conference of the the coming Lorraine Sinclair is the Coordinator of Mother Earth Healing Society. European to the Yet Canadians expect Aboriginal people to speak with one voice. Why is that? We have left wingers, we have right wingers, we Americas, it's no wonder there was great conflict between such different cultures. There was no respect given to Native people This has been a really good conference - it feels good. If I'm walking around and feeling a good energy from people then that's good and that's all I've been feeling in the last few days. It gives me a lot of hope that we can unite, we can listen to one another and we can walk the good road together because that's what's needed across this country. And it is the women who are going to do that. This is what all of our prophesies say. When the women pick up their medicine and begin to move forward with that the healing process begins. I'm encouraged to listen to what the Decade Council is about and the great work that you're doing. Get the political voice of the women heard. We need to also be involved politically, because the personal is political. You understand the social issues that we're faced with today, you understand the violence, you understand the pain that the children have gone through and are going through, and that our sisters are going who were able to survive the harshness of the seasons as well as live together in close quarters and still respect one another. It is said by our elders that Turtle Island, North America, will be a great gathering place of all tribes and something very special will take place here. It is also said that one day the white people will turn back to the red people so that they can understand." We are in these times. We must also understand that each race with their gifts of vision, communication, reasoning and movement need to listen, learn and share with one another so that we can move within the sacred wheel of life to gain strength and wisdom. Perhaps as white people learn how to slow down and listen, Native people can then communicate that gift of vision. This is what found in the last few days here, ... when we share, that people are learning how to listen. They're learning that I we are given two eyes to look twice as hard, two ears to listen twice as much and one mouth to speak only once. balance, which can lead to selfishness, racism and a lack of respect for the world in which we live. We need only to look at the state of our environment to know that the unrestrained raping of Mother Earth for resources has caused more harm than good. Among Native people, there have not been great strides made in science and technology from the western perspective. In the traditional ways, our areas of growth have been more in the area of interpersonal relationship with one another and all life. The characteristics most valued within the traditional Native community are cooperation, sensitivity to one's feelings and those of others, and sharing of material wealth. It is within this holistic view and understanding of our interconnectedness with Mother Earth and one another that has enabled the red race to live in harmony with our environment for thousands of years prior to the European coming to the shores. With you will see the results of that empowerment. They will go back to their traditional ways . You hear about the Lubicon people, you hear about the TemeAugama Anishnabai protecting the forests. You hear about the James Bay people, you've heard about the Haida people protecting Mile Island. All of those places more are Aboriginal people standing up and saying no, that's enough, you cannot come in anymore and destroy our Mother Earth. Those are the indications to you that our people are going back to the "traditional ways, to our responsibility as Aboriginal don't care how long the English and French fight amongst themeselves as to who are the founding nations. They are fighting on top of the heads of many Aborgional nations who are the first people. Many of you have been here for several generations, your ancestors came to these shores, and maybe they worked the land and maybe they suffered too as my ancestors did and this has become your homeland, then you should understand how " In looking at different cultures around the world it's helpful to see the pattern of human behaviour as a whole. Each individual culture has a place in the pattern, and each Such personality traits can create an attitude toward life that is very one sided and out of away my right as a woman, nobody has ever taken away my power. I recognize it within myself. The more that Native people can empower themselves at the local level and work through that healing process, the I There's a little thing I wrote about culture. positive qualities for a person to acquire. I will never, ever, go to this government and say, please give me self government, never. Because me, as an individual, as a woman, as a Native person, nobody has ever taken Mother Earth. This is our homeland. without keeping in mind the men - that it's them who need to learn to get to that place of healing. It's through women that they will understand, by watching us and seeing us and feeling that energy force - that beautiful energy that comes with healing and how it does indeed extend itself from me to family to community to nation to Mother Earth. of material wealth have been seen as voice. the responsibility of being caretakers of and the men that don't understand healing yet. We can't just go forward jail cultures, great strides have been made in Generally to science and technology. individualism, goals, these achieve competition and conspicious consumption have middle of the road too, just like you do. Don't expect us all to speak with one people placed here upon Turtle Island with through, and yes, even our men that are in has some gift to contribute towards the betterment of human kind. In European . . . it feels for us. Because our ancesstors, we believe, never leave. They are still here in spirit. They're here in this room with us right now. When I went to New Zealand in 1990, I went There's a lot of issues in Canada today that we can't ignore. Of course, foremost in a lot of people's minds is the constitution, and what we can do as women, as humankind, to nucleur free and independent Pacific peoples conference and there was only three of us in Canada from the Aboriginal people who were chosen to go and because I'd worked on environmental issues for more than 10 years I was asked to attend. And it as Canadians to make this a good effort. have a little bit of cynicism in me. I grew up understand in a very political family. politics, and the negativity that comes with politics. It never fails, every political meeting that I have gone to, there's just a different kind of energy in the air. It's a crackling and can be a very negative energy. To me the most important and the best moving energy have ever felt is healing, healing that energy. When we sit together and we listen to one another and we allow our hearts to process. So we have those kinds of things in our communities as well. We have chiefs who look good in public, but they go home and they beat their wives or they go home and they drink or they go home and they abuse their kids. So we have a lot of speak, that's when you feel the power. cleaning up to do in our communities as With this constitution, where they're giving us six months to put together what we as Canadians think. It's impossible. It's just like what they did with Meech Lake. They come up with an artificial deadline and expect us to meet that deadline. Well let's well, as do you. And this is something that I I I look at the realities in the Native community. We have across this country with the Native people, a split, just like white people. You have P.C.'s, you have N.D.P.'s, you have liberals and a couple other little stranger parties. You have a lot of different parties was very difficult for me, because again saw, it didn't matter that these men were I indigenous men, they had adopted western ways and they were still controling the you can learn from it's healing. us, Because this society is an addicted society. You look at Native people and you say, look at all those statistics, they've got the highest suicide rate, they've got the most people that are in prison, they've got the worst health statistics in Native communities, the violence that occurs. All of those things, that's what separates us from the rest of Canada, those appalling statistics that tell us, something has gone wrong here. out there to speak your political feelings and your political issues and bring them forward. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page-3 �room and went and put my cigarette out. But you are no different. Your society is Then I went back into the room where I was addicted as well. It's addicted to resources, it's addicted to material wealth. When you look at addictions and how they move in a cycle. It's like violence. There comes a point when you have to say that's enough. This is what we have to say collectively, as human beings with this society who is addicted to material wealth, addicted to looking at all of Mother Earth's gifts as resources. We have to say, that's enough. We as women, who are the bringers of life to life, the ones who are the continuity Be like my between the generations. ancestors. When they made a decision they said, how is this decision going to affect the Now if this next seven generations. constitutional dog and pony show would ask that one question, just answer that one question to every article and everything that they look at, we would have a very different constitution. We have nothing in there, of any substance, that talks about Mother Earth, that talks about our right as human beings to clean air, clean water, clean land and good health as people. Why can't we put that in the constitution? Don't we have that right as human beings. And shouldn't that be entrenched in the constitution above all else? began in the environmental When movement I felt very, very insecure. It's very difficult for Native people, even to come into I places like this and sit with our white sisters when we are just venturing out and trying to empower ourselves, it's very hard. So you need to understand that. Because a lot of us aren't at your meetings, it doesn't mean that we don't care. It may mean that we're just afraid or very shy. I know what that's assigned with these four women and became like the little shy Indian I can I become sometimes. I went back into myself just watched these women. These women, as soon as they would come into the room, they would take all their clothes off, they just liked being naked, guess. and I I Even flashing it around to everybody. didn't say though that insulted me, anything. I thought, they're white and they must be right. So I just sort of left it at that. I The conference went on and every day would sit in this room with many people, mostly men, from across Canada and they I would talk in this very high technical language that I couldn't understand. They would talk about acid rain, and uranium mining and all of these issues and I just felt like the whole world was on my shoulders. So I began to go outside every day and I began to sit by a tree because to us the trees are the grandmothers, the teachers and we can receive energy from a tree. So I would sit by this tree and I would bury And that's very important, for all of us. This is what have been experiencing while have been here, as I spoke and shared with you the teachings of the sweetgrass, minc being who we think we are, body being whc tobacco and I would say a prayer, like, why am I here? I knew I needed to be there. everybody else thinks we are, and spirit being who we actually are. Those are just didn't know why. So this went on for about three days. Everyday about 4 or 5 times a day I would go outside and sit by we go through this tree and finally on about the third day I had the courage to speak because it was we carry of ourselves, those are just more walls for people to break through to who we really are. And it's not so hard, Our people, I sitting around waiting for this wisdom to come from me. smoking, you're Native, you wear makeup. Chief Small Boy in 1981, he was the one that began me on my journey of speaking out for Mother Earth. I went to him to get some nice elder comments so I could say it on his behalf at the Energy Resources Conservation Board where we were trying to stop seven coal mines in Hinton. presented him with some tobacco and said I'd like some words of wisdom. I was very I green then and had just begun to learn about my culture. He said you must go and tell these people that they are tearing out the guts of Mother Earth. That everything that's in the earth is there for a reason, the oil, the gas, the uranium. All of those things, she needs for life. And I got really embarrassed. I thought I can't go in front of all these white people and tell them that - they are going to think I'm nuts. But I did it anyway because in my heart, I knew he was right. That's where I began my journey of speaking out for Mother Earth. So I go to this conference. We were staying at the YWCA and were assigned to rooms. I was the only Native person there and I was so shy and so scared and nervous and was smoking. And this one woman came up to me and said, get out of here, go put that cigarette out somewhere. So I kind of folded into myself and backed out of the I important things to remember, because as life with our images of professor, of doctor, of all these images that community, you see that we still have the ability to trust, we still have the ability to share, we still have the ability to be honest and we still have the ability to laugh at ourselves. That is what has gotten a lot of us through, it's the ability to look at ourselves and laugh. Not to humiliate ourselves so much as just laugh and be thought, god, you're overweight, you're them except my heart knew that when I saw I Native people, when you go into our places, when you go into our homes, come into our to my room and they were all sort of Everything seemed to separate me from heart. Native people are. Your body is a gift from culture shock for me. I looked at myself and I the time to see my spirit and to see my The creator but you don't have to go So this little group traveled back with me skinny and kind of hippies, and I thought, what am I doing here. That was a major I'm still Metis and all of the rest of it. But all they saw was the surface. They didn't take brought up to be very modest as many what I said. I I Now I had difficulty with that because I was just too much. And I think that's basically like. I went to my first national conference in Ottawa in 1982. And I walked into the room and I kept looking at myself through other saw all these peoples eyes. environmentalists with no make up and very up my cigarette and I said does anybody mind if I smoke? And all of them came running over with a match, oh no, go right ahead. To me that said everything. arr still the same person. I'm still overweight, I said I think we need to also look at our spiritual selves - you talk from the head all the time, but what about the. heart, which is really what brings us together as people that are speaking out for Mother Earth, it's our hearts that are telling us that this is what is right. I don't remember all what I said but all of a sudden there was a little crowd of people gathered around me when I finished speaking, and quite a few of them were men, and they wanted more words of wisdom. So this little group traveled back with me to my room and they were all sort of sitting around waiting for this wisdom to come from me. And the women too, that I was rooming with, were sitting there gazing up at me for all of a sudden, I was an Indian, I was traditional, I was spiritual and I wasn't anymore this knew something. overweight, halfbreed woman who smoked. I humble. Know that we are here for a reason. That you are no better than me, and I'm no better than you. That each of us has a gift. I call this the journey of the heart and living and walking this way. Many of our people call it the sweetgrass path, or the good red road when you make that commitment to honesty and kindness and you walk with faith and you live with sharing. When you demonstrate those qualities you are on that good red road. I have made that commitment a long time ago and I'll continue with that. When I was in New Zealand, I had to get up and make a presentation on behalf of our delegation and I was so scared and my voice was shaking so bad and I was almost in tears and when I finished this Maori woman came up to me and she said, that was really beautiful and I started apologizing, I said well I'm really sorry but, don't know my tears just started and what's wrong with me, I'm a big crybaby. I So at one point, I thought, I'm going to test them out here. I was going to pull out my speech about tobacco is sacred to our people, but that wouldn't have been altogether true. So in the middle of one of the teachings had been given,... very And she said, no, because the Maori people look for that in people when they speak. Because we know that that's the heart speaking. And we know that your spirit is there, that your spirit is speaking. I genuinely, I was sharing it, all of a sudden looked at these women and I automatically picked up a cigarette then I remembered how they had jumped all over me. So I held I continued pg 15 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Noirthern Woman Page 4 �BANFF . . . A YEAR LATER WOMEN AND MENTAL HEALTH/WOMEN IN A VIOLENT SOCIETY by GLORIA HARRIS Friday, May 10...9am Sandra Butler takes the podium, another exciting and extremely warm reception. Sandra said it was not necessary to educate the women present. Let me begin by telling you that the experience of this conference was a turning point in my life. It moved me from one stage to another. will highlight the She reminded us of our work and the isolation and tiring effects, she spoke of I strongest memories... healings, Thursday, May 9/91.... Anyone who sees the Rockies for the first time knows the awestruck wonder! 5pm While dining alone at a table window with a magnificent view, I journeys and memories and feminist therapy and get the focus on what we set out to do, ending the violence. Again there were too many inspiring thoughts to percolate, such as what does empowering mean in a world where women still have no power. spotted a deer walking through a residential backyard, nibbling along the way, on any foliage it could find. I seemed to be the only one aware of its presence. As I followed it with my eyes, I imagined that this was how my grandfather must have felt while hunting or guiding, and suddenly spots his game. was totally captivated and speechless at how bold this deer was, seemingly unaware of his vulnerable location. I waited for the waitress to meet my eyes, so I could share with her my great discovery. When she approached my table I was about to burst, I pointing towards the deer, in a manner much like a 3 year old at the zoo for the first time, when she quietly stated, "It's very common for them to wander into town and sometimes they get their antlers tangled in the fences and trees". I continued to marvel at this 4 legged creature, who for my own private dinner show, ended his performance and found his way down the lane and disappeared. Healing and Empowerment. This was a wealth of information on groups. mulled over the topics of screening, resource I building, goal setting, safe places, containers, inner child. After I picked up the handouts left the room, unknowingly I without my purse. When I discovered this realized my purse contained everything needed sustain me. I began to retrace my steps in a silent panic, till I was directed to where announcements are made. As started toward the podium, felt a gentle I I I I tap, turned to face this petite, beautiful Native woman. She quietly asked if I had any sweetgrass. She wanted to cleanse the room where her workshop would be held after lunch. She went on to explain there had been crying and strong emotions there. She introduced herself as Maggie Hodgson and I gasped, unable to contain myself and reached for her hand and blubbered my excitement at this meeting. I reassured her I Andrea Dworkin's keynote brought me back to reality. What a welcome she 7pm got. After she began to talk, I knew why she was so wildly applauded. Her volume and passion spoke for everyone as she reminded us of the situation of emergency we are in and no further ahead that when we first started. I cried when she relived the New Bedford rape on the pool table and how Hustler magazine had run a spread three months before of a woman on a pool table, and how Hustler ran another spread after the rape, of a greeting card, of a woman on a pool table with the caption "Welcome to New Bedford". I hung my head further when Andrea wailed of the police report of her "suicide" death a year after the trial. She told us we survive by amnesia. Her statement of porn being the Pentagon, the War Room, the training grounds for men, telling them to go out get them, do it to them! She said the serial killers will tell you they get their ideas from porn. She asked us to address pornography! To organize political support for women who kill men who hurt them. returned to my room, exhausted but once again reminded of why I am involved in the I Movement. Workshop on Journalling for 10:30am would find someone who had some sweetgrass and bring it to the room as I was in her workshop. Before I left the room, a jolt ran through me...what about your purse...As I was about to ask noticed it was sitting on the stage. Deep, deep relief I and I thanked the woman. Now Maggie needed sweetgrass. I met a lady from NWT and she gave me a piece. I headed to Maggie's workshop on "Native Community Response to Sexual Abuse". Maggie told us one woman's journey as chief of her reserve, Alkai Lake and of the struggles and victories in healing her community with help of workshops, healing through traditional means, sweat lodges and pipe ceremonies for example. She told us of the incredible courage it took to charge the perpetrators and support them through community support and recovery, including the elders. Maggie told a wonderful story of the wolf who lost his eyes and the experience of being lent the eye of a mouse, which enabled to see only one to one and later a buffalo gave him an eye which helped him see the world. She said we must use our buffalo eye. Her talk ended with the prophesy of the "eagle landing on the moon." In the 1850s a Hopi Indian said that "our Native people are in midnight and we will come out of our midnight and into our day to be world leaders. This change will happen when the eagle lands on the moon". The meaning is, the midnight is the destruction that has happened to Native people such as alcoholism, residential schools, treaties, etc. Into our day is the process and recovery. Eagle landing is the year 1969, when the first space ship landed and its first message sent back to earth, the eagle has landed. That same week was the opening of the first alcohol treatment centre for Natives and since then it has been the catalyst for recovery for the Native nation. Maggie then closed with her healing song and sang Hai, Hai, while she shook her rattle. I hugged her and she thanked me for my support and said she felt my spirit...Wow! What more could I ask for. I moved on to the next session on "Empowerment for Change". Three women shared their experiences of North End Womens Centre in Winnipeg. It was obvious the dedication and innovative approaches helped them create a centre which truly met the needs of the women accessing them. What was their secret? They asked the women! Saturday, May 11... Women's Healing Circle...Lorraine Sinclair and Andrinne Leduc shared the teachings of the Native ways. Her words and teachings enveloped me and swirled till a spirit inside was awakened from a long slumber. A lifetime of teachings flooded my mind as she spoke of my Mother-the Earth, my Grandmother - the Moon, Father Sun, Grandfather Rock. Her explanations of sweetgrass and the strength of grass...one strand alone can easily break, but braid it and it is unbreakable...much like Native people...the grass can be cut, pulled up and stamped on but it still survives and it is like the lives of Native women. She told us of the mind, body and spirit...The mind is who you think you are. The body is what people think you are and the spirit is who you are. will never forget the soothing voice of Lorraine and the Native spirit of I Andrinne, very sure of her chosen sweetgrass path. I left this workshop in a fashion much like a butterfly leaving her cocoon, fluttering and free. continued pg 10 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 5 �CONFLICTING VALUES OF by Maria Teresa Trainer It is a well known fact that most women from the Third World suffer from a greater degree of subjugation than women from the Developed World. When some of these women immigrate to Canada and face the growing tendency towards gender equality, great conflicts arise within their family. The majority of immigrant women are surprised by the amount of freedom that Canadian women enjoy; they welcome the opportunity to develop as an individual and become an important member of society. On the other hand, immigrant men feel threatened by the VIEW ABOUT EACH OTHER Question to Central Americans: RESPONDENTS A questionnaire was given to twenty many Canadians (ten men and ten women) and twenty Central Americans (ten men and ten women). The questions were directed to outline the differences in family values between Canadians and Central Americans. All the Central American respondents were between the ages of twenty and fifty years old. They had different levels of education Canadian women. They refuse to give up their control and domination, cling to their from different socio-economic backgrounds perceived "power" enjoyed by patriarchal values and penalize their women for their struggle to reach equality. According to most researchers, one out of ten Canadian women is battered by the man she loves. This figure is much greater among immigrant families. (from illiterate to B. A. equivalent), came What do think about Canadian men anc women? The Central American women said the following: Canadian women are liberal careless in their appearance, independen and fun loving. They smoke in public, arc integrated in the economic development can get ahead and the laws protect them Canadian men are good, well educated responsible, independent and liberal. They like having fun and they know how to do and have been in Canada between four housework. months and two years. The Canadians were between the ages of twenty and fifty-five and The have been living in Canada most of their lives, had various levels of education and also came from various socio-economic Central American men said the following: Canadian women are liberal, oper minded, they do not like to stay home, anc are Protestant. Canadian men are ice cold In the past ten years there has been a great rude, hard working, like to stay home anc allow their women to be independent. influx of Latin American immigrants and refugees into Canada because of political Question to Canadians: backgrounds. problems, poverty, war and persecution in Central and South American countries. Following are excerpts of a study conducted in Thunder Bay, dealing with the conflicting values of Canadians and Central American immigrants. What do you think of Central Americans': Participant observations and ethnographic their family, care about clothing anc children, are vivacious and industrious anc are victims by choice. Central American mer several Fifty percent of the respondents had never met a Central American and had no opinion The Canadian women who answered said: Central American women are devoted tc interviews were conducted to examine cultural views of traditional Central American are the head of the family. They are sexy. good dancers, have dark complexions anc have an inferiority complex. families immigrating to Thunder Bay, and how these views conflict with those of mainstream Canadian society. The study showed marked differences in views and familial values which function as The Canadian men who answered said: Central American women are beautiful, barriers to adaption of both immigrants and the receiving society. friendly but not sexy, take a lot of abuse and are more forward than the men. Central American men are wife stealers, condescending, sexy, quiet, paranoiac and think they are superior. continued pg 7 WHAT'S NEW AT THE BOOKSTORE NO BURDERN TO CARRY: Narratives of Black Working Women in Ontario 1920s to 1950s, by Dionne Brand, Women's Press. "NO BURDEN TO CARRY exquisitely weaves the threads of autobiography and history into a flexible and meaningful relationship. Never again will I be lost for names of Black women who have stood at the junctions of Canadian history." (Angela Davis) PIECE OF MY HEART: A Lesbian of Colour anthology, by Makeda Silvera, Sister Vision Press. "PIECE OF MY HEART stands as a testimony to the ongoing process of breaking our silences, being mute no longer. The voices are loud, honest, angry, passionate and full of love Throughout the anthology, a thread of humour is ever present, even in the stories, journals, essays that are painful. This book is about us. These are our stories. Coming full circle we acknowledge and celebrate our differences, and there is power in our similarities." (from the introduction). DESPITE THE ODDS: Essays on Canadian Maude Barlow, chair of the Council Women and Science, edited by Marianne Gosztonyl Ainley, Vehicule Press. "The Canadians, has just published, with Bri_. Campbell TAKE BACK THE NATION, k Porter Books. "TAKE BACK THE NATION a citizen's call to political action, an eloqui plea for the continuing existence of Canad Barlow's earlier book A PARCEL ROGUES is now available in paperback. essays in DESPITE THE ODDS illustrate the wide range of activities engaged in by Canadian women scientists and underline the difficulties encountered science graduates.... by female THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION: The Status ( MORE THAN A ROSE: Prime Ministe of Women in Twelve Countries, by Doris Anderson, Doubleday. Anderson, past Wives and Other Women, by Heatt president of NAC and CACSW, documents the situation of women in Canada, the U.S., Britain, and nine European countries "(providing) a sweeping look at social conditions over the last 25 years. THAN A ROSE offers an exciting a Robertson, McClelland and Stewart. "M01 provocative portrait of the trappings - a the trap - that political power and positi present - a fast paced, behindthe-scenes glimpse into Canada's history INVERSIONS: Writing by Dykes, Queers and Lesbians, edited by Betsy Warland, Press Gang Publishers "is a bold and diverse collection by twenty-four contemporary North American women writers exploring questions of sexual identity and politics, creativity, cultural community and literary theory. ... INVERSIONS is a remarkably honest, complex and impassioned gathering of voices that acknowledges the vital importance of difference". The NFB's film The Company of Strange has enchanted all who have seen it. So v the book IN THE COMPANY C STRANGERS, by Mary Meigs, one of tt eight women who portray themselves in tt (The book) "begins as her story being in the film and unfolds into a gentl intricate meditation on the experience time, old age, magic and building". film. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor RVINI.na3. �CANADIAN AND CENTRAL AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: continued from pg 6 THE NOTION OF MALE SUPERIORITY AND THE HIERARCHY IN MARRIAGE consistent with the popular notion of The survey showed that forty-five percent of the Central machismo in Latin America. American respondents feel that men are superior to women and eighty percent declared that men are not supposed to cry. In contrast, 100% of the Canadians felt that being the head of the household should be a shared responsibility between husband American The Central and wife. respondents who came from rural areas were particularly reluctant to allow their wives to work outside the home, an unrealistic expectation considering the present ecomonic situation-in Canada. In addition, some even prevent their wives from going to school and learning English, thus forcing dependent. them to be completely Regardless of whether the husband works or collects welfare the Central American male controls every facet of the family life. Most Canadians feel the opposite and encourage their wives to work outside the home. Statistics show that most Canadian women are employed. Latin American women, as well as other immigrant women, lack social support, feel isolated and are usually controlled by their male companions or fathers. These factors instill low self esteem and confusion about the available options and social services. As the years go by, they are expected to serve and nurture others. They sacrifice their wishes in order for others to have theirs. They never learn to fend for themselves; the only skills they learn are homemaking skills. The only place where they feel happy and is inside the home. Being a dependent shut-in contributes to stress, emotional problems and physical illness. SEXUAL FIDELITY Canadians turned out to be more trusting than Central Americans; 85% of CHILDREN in which this subject is discussed has shocked some of the Central majority of Central American and Canadian women agree that the ideal family should have two children. Canadian men think that they should have three, and Latin The openness The results of the comparison between Central American and Canadian values are secure ABORTION the Canadians believe that women are faithful to their husbands versus 55% of the Central Americans. Fifty percent of the Canadians believe that men are faithful to their wives American people and has triggered wife battering and abuse in cases where women have wanted to take advantage of the freedom of choice offered in this country. Ninety-five per cent of the Central Americans feel that abortion should be incorporated into the criminal code and 70% of the Canadians feel that it shouldn't. These results go in accord with the degree of religiosity and superstition of both cultures. Only 5% of the Canadians feel that they will go to hell if they do not follow the teachings of the church versus 45% of the Latin Americans. PREMARITAL COHABITATION SEXUAL FREEDOM AND double standard between Central American men and women and the growing The tendency towards gender equality which faces Canadian couples today is very obvious by the answers on this subject. Fifty percent of the Central American men said that it would be a good idea to live with a woman before marriage but that they would not marry her and would not condone such behaviour from their daughters. Ninety percent of these men said that women should not have the same sexual freedom as men because "they would taint and cheapen themselves". Eighty percent of the Central American women went along with this opinion, "because no one will ever marry her", "because she would lose respect", "because we were not brought up that way", and 70% of the women said that they would not live in common-law relationships for the same reasons. It is curious to notice that some of the people answering in this manner were living in common-law relationships, but obviously were not happy with this arrangement. The overwhelming majority of Canadians believe in sexual equality and common-law marriage, This corresponds with other findings that state unmarried cohabitation has increased dramatically among Canadian couples and it is an accepted modus vivendi. The men think four is the ideal number. The custom of having family control over the children, no matter what age they are, is obvious by the Central American responses; the overwhelming majority said that it was a good idea for young men and women to live at home with their parents until they got married. Some of the reasons given were: "My son needs his mother to take care of him until he can find a wife who can do the same", "Young people need advice and guidance", "Single women put themselves in danger when they live alone". The great majority of the Canadians thought the opposite; most of them answered, "Single people should live away from their families to gain experience and independence". It is hard to socialize Latin children in an Anglo society. Children are taught individualism in school and the curriculum usually does not promote respect for tradition. The values learned from their peers and the values that are learned at home often cause a great deal of conflict within the family. This conflict affects their mental health and this is an important issue to consider when developing programs to assist immigrants. EDUCATION One hundred percent of both Central Americans and Canadians agree that a higher education should be offered equally to both boys and girls. This is a sign that Central Americans are asking for a change in their way of life. If they encourage a higher education for women, they must be prepared to accept the consequences. Educated women compete in the work force, demand equal opportunities, freedom of choice, a fair division of labour at home, an active participation in making family decisions and become active participants in the mainstream society. Unless Latin men change their attitude, higher education for Central American women will create further family tensions as a consequence of the demanded decline of the patriarchal domination that rules the lives of Latin Americans. versus 25 per cent of the Central Americans. The Central American results seem low, considering the high expectations of control and obedience of the macho head of the household. Maria Teresa Trainer is a member of the ttO tio 'o,'WOtko 'At4 Thunder Bay Immigrant and Visible Minority Women's Organization and a cultural interpreter and translator for the Thunder Bay Multi-Cultural Association. Pk° WOW Ct4 tv0 he) trO PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 7 �Excerpts from an address to the Women . . . Uniting for Change Conference, Thunder Bay, November 1991 FOR CHANGE Glenda Simms is Chairperson of Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women. I wish to concentrate on that which we share as women of Canada and at the same time I wish to acknowledge our differences and stress that significant numbers of Canadian women are doubly and triply oppressed and within these multi levels of oppression we can come to an understanding of effects that such devastating barriers, such as violence Sometimes when I travel across the country and I hear panels discussing these issues and I do not see visible minority women and aboriginal women at the discussion I know that something is missing. Because we must never forget that surrogate motherhood has great implications for the most disadvantaged women in our society. The ideological question is "whose wombs will be rented to produce the children for those and poverty have on the lives of women especially women from aboriginal communities, refuge women, immigrant women, racial minority women, disabled women who chose not to have children women and poor women of all colours and all castes. All of us, no matter how we aboriginal women and visible minority define ourselves within the Canadian society, have the responsibility to get involved in the forces that influence our lives. We must take the necessary steps to make our voices heard, in our families, in our communities, and by our political leaders. At the federal level a number of initiatives are urge all of you to get underway, and involved. For instance, the constitution of this country is being reformulated. Women I and other marginalized groups must get involved in the process. this document which has been produced will become the blueprint that determines our place in Canada in the future. We must educate ourselves and our daughters to look at the present proposals with a critical eye and under the implications that the proposals have for all women of Canada. We must recognize that at the time of Confederation women were not even when they were young"? I am saying that if we are not careful, it will be poor women, women whose wombs again will become the Violence and poverty are further exacerbated ancestors were used to produce the breeding stocks for the slave plantation. We must be vigilant.We must make sure that we society. In our initiatives to combat physical and economic violence against women we do not take these things lightly. They have grave implications, especially for those of us who are poor. Another initiative that we must really get involved in is the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women. Much is known about the level of violence in our society. We know that one in ten women is beaten in the privacy of their homes. We know that one in four girls are sexually assaulted in this We know that violence is at country. epidemic proportions. We know that we are afraid to walk the streets of our cities. But we still do not have a clear cut idea of how violence impinges on aboriginal women, on racial minorities and above all on disabled The second federal initiative is the Royal Commission on New Reproductive opportunity to inform the panel of the remarkable work that is being done by women in their communities. We need to Reproduction is an issue that aspect of our lives that has for too long been under the control of men and the medical profession. The implications of the new reproductive technologies are very complex. But they have great bearing on how our sisters, our daughters, and those of us who are still at the child-rearing stage are going to confront these issues in the future. We must make our positions clear on issues such as surrogate motherhood, sperm banks and other issues surrounding these technologies. poverty until we solve the poverty of women. Poverty exacerbates the danger of physical attack. country, just as the wombs of my slave considered persons. This therefore, is the first time in our history that Canadian women will have the chance to influence the making of a constitution and we must not allow this opportunity to pass us by. supremely affects all women and it is an And most disturbing of all is the fact that there are over one million children living in poverty in Canada. This is a country that The poverty of says it loves children. children is directly linked to the poverty of their mothers. We will never solve child breeding stocks for the labour force in this We do not know the unique women. perspective from the voices of these women. Technology. self development. Unemployment rates are traditionally higher for women than for men. But they are still higher for aboriginal women, for minority women and for disabled women. So there is still a lot yet to learn about violence and its impact on women's lives. The government has promised a zero by the issue of racism within Canadian must not deny the unique situations of visible minorities and aboriginal women. Some women chose to endure the violence because they know that the justice system does not offer rehabilitation for the men who abuse them. They know their menfolk face horrific levels of violence in the very system that was designed to protect all persons in this society. And herein lies their dilemma. Black women and other racial minorities have long perceived elements in the police force and other social service agencies as dangerous to their communities. They know that by calling these agencies that are set up to protect all Canadians, they risk getting their men maimed, psychologically humiliated, and often times, killed. And so, these women have to chose between saving their sons and their lovers from death and saving themselves from violence. tolerance position on violence. This is our tell them about the unpaid labour that we are putting out in communities and in safe houses and in transition houses. We need to articulate our needs. We need to point out that we will no longer tolerate violence in Canadian society. The dilemma that we face today lies in the complex interrelationship between violence and myriad other social conditions. For instance, violence and poverty continue to be interwoven as two of the most devastating influences on women's lives and together in insidious ways, poverty and violence block our true participation in the Canadian society. In an affluent society such as Canada is, we can clearly state that poverty is a form of economic violence. Women are poor because they are denied economic power. The reality of women's poverty in Canada is that in 1987 there were over 1.5 million women living in poverty. Between 1971 and 1986, the number of women living in poverty increased by 110%, Today, the average woman in the work force still earns 65.9 cents for every dollar that a man earns. The average minority woman makes 10% less than that. And the majority of aboriginal women have never even been offered the compared to 24% for men. job! 70% of women are segregated in low paying jobs with little or no opportunity for Can you understand the crucial dilemma of a woman who cannot turn in her batterer because she does not know if he will be killed by the police to whom he is turned over? That, my sisters, is perhaps one of the most harrowing aspects of violence in our society. We as women must endure the violence of men in our community because we know the society is so very violent toward our sons, our husbands, and our lovers. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 8 �I urge you to see the recent N.F.B. film, I believe that this feminism of which I speak called "Sisters in Struggle". This issue has and this women's movement of which been raised very vividly in that film. dream, has been distorted. I have travelled across this country and I have heard young Canada, the systemic racism in In all I aboriginal women joining hands with white women and black women. They missed the healing circle that was formed. They missed it - or refused to report it because that would have been much too powerful and positive a message. institutions place these women between a rock and a hard place. We have forced these women to chose between their loyalty to community and their loyalty to personal safety. They will continue to chose silence as long as our social and justice institutions do not deal with anti-aboriginality, racism women say that they do not want to be feminists. I've heard aboriginal women and sexism. marginalized. that opportunity to recognize that in their culture and in their worldview there still If we do not fight racism, we cannot fight And so I am saying to you, my sisters, that we must reclaim that which our foremothers gave to us. They gave to us a legacy of survival, a legacy of struggle. We must never forget that it was the women's movement that facilitated whatever change we have made in this country. Let us not kid ourselves. Do you think that men sat around and decided that they were going to exists the possibility for healing and maybe sexism. Racism and sexism are the flip side of the same coin. As women we must unite We have been around these issues. socialized to assume dependent roles and these dependent roles limit our capacities to make it in this society. As women we have to take responsibility for the lives of all our sisters and as feminists we must acknowledge that we too, are part of the oppression of some other women. Mainstream feminists have knowingly and unknowingly spouted rhetoric that continues from the heart of a Eurocentric perspective. As women in the struggle we must rid the psyches of the historic stereotypes and the precepts on which we have build this movement which we call the women's We need a truly inclusive movement. saying that they do not want to be feminists, black women who do not want to be feminists, older women who do not want to be feminists. This is because, believe, I these women have for so long, been open up the law schools, the medical women, will never aspire to the kind of change it for the better. Fear, for example, is an emotion to which all of us can relate. It doesn't matter what our race, our class, our linguistic background is. We know what fear is. A recent gallup poll showed that 56% of Canadian women are afraid to go out at night. Therefore, we limit our activities. We are not able to go out at then we as women must create a new climate in this country. We must make sure that the oppressive forces are identified and that we fight against these oppressive forces. We cannot have a truly united women's movement until we recognize that all women have a perspective on different issues. We must pursue the kind of dialogue that will help us discuss what the development is going to be in the next century. We must identify the appropriate ideological tools that will move us forward. And if you believe that feminism is the ideology that will lead us to justice, to equity, and to humanity as it truly should be, then we have no choice, as women of Canada, but to join hands and say we will develop a feminism that is anti-sexist, anti-racist, antihomophobic, anti-classist in its approach. We will reject hierarchial rating of women's issues and we will move towards developing a strategy that will enhance all our lives in a social, economic, cultural and political context at the state and the community level. Others who have gone before us have left us some very important words that we must never forget. West Indian pianist, Hazel If feminism is going to make a difference, if revitalized, all of us must go hand in hand. I think we must continue to struggle so that young women will see that they are valuable. There are too many forces telling them that they are not. We must continue to struggle so that older women can learn to gicow old with dignity. Older women should never be made to feel incapable and unwanted and useless. We live in a culture that does not value anyone who grows old. In fact the only cultures in Canada that value the old are the aboriginal people and cultures like the Chinese. These people value and We do not and perhaps that is why we are losing out. We have to work for a time when immigrant women do not have to apologize for being This country was built on immigrants. successive waves of immigrant people. In fact the only people who were not immigrants were the aboriginal people. We city in this country because we pay taxes. That's our right. And that is what we must say. But that right has been taken away from us and we now live in fear. So our lives, as women, are limited. Some of us fear the streets. Some of us fear the courts. And some of us fear the men who share our begin to build sturdy bridges across all the barriers of all groups of women in Canada. If we are to overcome patriarchal values, to encourage each other along the path. respect their elders and the extended family. night to enjoy the parks and the streets, and to stare at the stars and the galaxies above. Why shouldn't we have the right to do that? We have the right to walk the streets in any conferences such as this one, we must strategies that will enrich our lives. We want the women's movement is going to be We will change this country and we will know that our strength lies in our solidarity, a solidarity which you have displayed here When we come together at tonight. common and that we need to develop you that they will not move another inch until you fight to push them over. They will never give up, because that is the nature of power. Power feeds on itself. But we, as Canadian power that has reduced us to where we are. And yet, as we continue to struggle against that's what we as Canadian women must consider as we move into the next century. We need to consider that we have a lot in Scott asks, "Whoever walked behind anyone to freedom"? address all the issues that affect us. this fear, we can take hope because we think we can take a lesson from that, because in the final analysis as we struggle to redefine feminism we must look towards our aboriginal sisters for perhaps we missed schools, the engineering schools and that they were going to allow us to get jobs. Did they decide that? NO! We fought for that! They did not give it to us. And I can assure women's movement so that we can better homes. I must realize that the immigrants are not We know that for 400 years, patriarchy has distorted human development on this continent. Next year will be 500 years since Christopher Columbus landed on that shore and that began the distortion of human development. What are we going to say to our aboriginal sisters next year? Are we going to celebrate the 500 years of oppression of aboriginal people? Are we going to canonize Columbus and say that he was a hero? Or are we going to mourn with our aboriginal sisters and say the oppression was not just about them. It was about all of us as women - because we all have been oppressed over these 500 years. That is the level of understanding that we must develop. We must come to a redefinition of what feminism is. Feminism is a positive force in our life. Rebecca West in 1913 said, "I myself have never been able to define precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist when I express sentiment that differentiates me from a doormat"! We all must recognize that feminism has had a bad name because there has been a backlash against the development and the gains that we have made. The media has been very responsible for distorting what we have done. The media often highlights our conflicts and they minimize our trials. For instance the Banff Conference in June/91. The media focused on the conflict. But what they missed was the circle formed by the taking away our jobs - it was the immigrants over time, who gave us the prosperity that we have. And they continue to give us prosperity. We must make sure that we recognize that there are refuge women amongst us and that they are running away from oppression just as our ancestor ran from the oppression in Europe. So why is it that we cannot understand them, when we all have the same history. We must look forward to a time when women with disabilities in this country will be given dignity. When they will have access to all facilities and they will be given jobs according to their levels of capability. We must come to a point where we recognize that we are largely a homophobic society and that our lesbian sisters are living in real solitude. I went recently to see the movie, Sisters in Struggle. After the movie a young black woman stood up and said "I do not know where I belong - I am a black woman who is a lesbian, I cannot belong to the group of white lesbians because they are too racist, and I cannot belong to the group of black women because they are too belong"? So where do homophobic. I These are fundamental questions that all groups of women must ask, including must widen the circle and we must be compassionate and all inclusive and make sure that we reach out across our barriers to all our sisters, and aboriginal women. We daughters. There must be no one left behind. That is our major challenge. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 9 �continued from pg 5 1:30pm.... Shirley Turcotte... Begins her presentation and recognizes and hbnours women she works with. She said their four Around us were feelings of anxiety and fear of what was erupting. felt a tap on my shoulder and was asked to follow her. Tina names and stories in a very painful and emotional talk. Shirley's message was and Maggie were signalling as well. We had strong and will never leave me as I hear her words of "when you can't hear the unbearable or the unspeakable, when you can't believe what seems unbelievable, I'm once again alone". I don't believe for a moment that anyone would forget her words of "The hardest part is to think of all the other children. know I survived, it is unbearable to know that others didn't." I will never forget her! I I not a clue till we reached the front and it was explained that Lorraine Sinclair was asked to speak and she wanted all the Native women there with her for unity and strength. We joined hands and formed a circle as Lorraine began her message. She started by saying " when Native people pray they pray for all races, red, yellow, black and white. She said that the red race understands discrimination and pain. We Sunday, May 12...as planned, some Nativ women from the previous evening starter gathering and we found a place under thi tree and began our circle. We sharec prayed, thanked and cried some more Andrinne shared a poem she had writter about the supper hour on Saturday. WE closed with the hugging circle and header over to the centre for the closing keynote. Rosemary Brown...was truly 9:00am wonderful closing to a most powerful emotional and impacting conference. He address of attacking violence at its roots are gathered here to talk about violence beginning with a clear analysis and the conference being a good place to start. As I write this I can relive the intensity at the point of the conference. I opted out of the against women and violence in our society. We are the indigenous delegates here and she invited any more Native women in the study group and explored the hot springs with two beautiful new friends, Allysn and crowd to join and added even if you are white and have a Indian heart, you are Tina. welcome to join us up here. She stated that her comparison of othe with all women countries and violence are all the same. Ir recognition of the events of the supper hou previous evening she said there can be nc feminism where there is racism. Her worth 6:00pm supper in ballroom...Sat with Maggie, Allysn and Tina. We were high on Banff and the people of the conference. Dinner was served by trails of men-servants balancing humongous trays. I shared with my dinner friends my images of this being in days of old and in a castle for a feast and the food being brought out in hoards and we would throw the bones over our shoulders. While we ate they announced a poetry reading. It was next to impossible to hear the poet as there was so much clatter and chatter. It was only a matter of time before individuals began expressing strong feelings and reactions to the lack of respect and attention the reader had. The opinions changed ,from mildly upset to rage and remarks were flying all over. One woman at our table loudly spoke to anyone who would Women then began to try and analyze and feel comfortable where they were at. Next to us in another group, listen. remarks like "It's a matter of economics that there isn't a big representation of minority women here". This triggered an angry response from another women, "who paid for you to come, yourself or your workplace?" As women of colour took the podium to try to state their point, one was told to "forget" it and get on with the party. is not the colour of your skin, it's your heart that matters. She then offered a healing song. Maggie had joined her then as Lorraine offered the hope that the song would touch hearts. She ended by saying it that we needed each others hearts in order to continue. Maggie once again shook her rattle and offered Hai, Hai. For me, she made the global connectior to continue to look deeper and include everything when addressing violenth sounded like a large order, but never the less it was an important closing to ask us tc address the harms done. I could not sit through the plenary as I fel The strength and healing powers could be felt within and some cried, some trembled some of the lingering rage from some of the women and made my way back to the hotel and others stood tall and straight as the trees that represent honesty. The room had all joined hands and for a few moments Monday experienced the unity that Lorraine spoke of. overwhelming joy of discovering my nevi We then left together and held a healing journey beginning the sweetgrass path, wa: unbearable. As ,I reflected back on the conference while in flight to Winnipeg, I shec circle. Some of stayed on and we talked for hours in one of the rooms, as we familiarized each other with our stories. could not believe the Native women connected with from B.C. to the Maritimes. Before the morning keynote we agreed to meet for a morning circle. What more can I say about Saturday! As I boarded the plane the reviewed all my tears the entire trip. encounters and information gained anc I I I shared. I thank my family for the guilt free time away, I thank my co-workers for their thank my continued frontline work, I employers for granting me the time anc Gloria Harris is the Coordinator of the Northshore Family Resource Centre soon to be renamed Marjorie House. resources to attend. In all my journeys, I wil share and give away what was given to ME at Banff. X(r) V!f)(9)))(Ke)-/ It is very fitting that we, the indigenous women stood up, as scared and insecure as all of us were. We found the strength within us to walk forward with our hearts, extremely vulnerable. I can't explain how scared we were, but we were scared. To find the strength within us to go forward in front of all these white women, and the anger in the room, to go forward and to give. When you can do that, you've done something good. I don't say this to brag about it, because I still feel the fear of that day. All I know is, was given the name Mountain Woman for a I reason, I guess, and it's supposed to be about strength bebause that's what the rock teaches us, it's faith, to have faith in yourself, your own heart, and to walk forward with it. Lorraine Sinclair PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 10 �WEAVING MATtER(s) "Each weaving speaks such unique and important words" "What a wonderful journey.. very different at times but such beautiful results" "Heartbreaking, potent, intensely sensual, dramatic, wise and demanding" "What stayed with me was the life and the forcefulness of the colours that turned serious messages into celebrations" "A beautiful blending of art and politics" These are just of the heartfelt in the guestbook some Sister/s 1991 comments recorded accompanying WEAVING MATtER(s) - an exhibit of thirteen tapestries by Thunder Bay's Sasha McInnes (exhibiting now at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery). Many who view WEAVING MATtER(s) will first be overwhelmed.. the scope, the size, the colours, the magnitude of the work. Just to think of the amount of time spent weaving is amazing, then to realize that the artist "creates the canvas as well as the images", spinning raw wool into yarn, then, thoughtfully, magically, creating the strong, vivid colours in the dye pot. The tapestries are very large. The colours rich and vibrant.. predominantly purples, reds, pinks. The energy emanates. The power overwhelms. It takes time to absorb this work. contemplate the images. emotions it evokes. To To analyze the For these tapestries are very political work. McInnes' weaving transforms silence into It is vital that we hear this language. language, that we break our silence, that we speak our truths. We are reminded of the words of Audre Lorde "My silence had not protected me"... analysis of the Valerie Oosterveld, in an tapestry "NO", says "McInnes uses weaving as Lorde uses poetry, to communicate in a feminist language the changes that must be made in our world in order to save it. The expression of the spider language through a medium such as weaving is important, for it allows the weavers and the audience (the woven) to identify their connections within It is one step towards the tapestry. "Weaving matters" are also the experiences of vulnerability, victimization, and violence eliminating the subject/object duality that has plagued those cast as Others for so long. If the makings of a new mythology and pornography, the gratifications and redemptions of erotica, the comforts and betrayals of women's friendships, and the can be identified in this McInnes weaving by the people who view the tapestry, that is another step towards connectivity.... McInnes' tapestry gives us courage to take the paths that lead away from a dead planet, and to help others do the same." Each viewer will have a unique experience. Each viewing will be a new experience. It is important to absorb this work many times. Weaving matters. Carole Farber, curator of the exhibit when it showed at the London Regional and Art Historical Museum (September 1991) says ".. the connecting that women live with every day. Each of these tapestries means on many levels synchronously. They have been informed by such seemingly different circumstances in the artist's past and present as the wanton murder of fourteen women in Montreal and the painful backlash against feminists that followed it, the horrors of sexual abuse, rape healing of women's conferences and workshops - there are both hard realities and luscious allure in these works of art. As a viewer, you are challenged to find the affinities and meanings that matter for you, to find in the space between your eyes and the tapestries a meaning that makes sense(ual) of the messages." WEAVING MATtER(s) exhibits at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery until March 22nd. Don't miss it. In an earlier NWJ interview (Nov. 1986) McInnes said "I resonate deeply with the thread running through all (the tapestries) is that "weaving matters" (doing it makes a Glancing again at the guest book we find Jason's entry (in handwriting that suggests Jason is a very young person). He says: fundamental belief in the power of symbols to enhance and transform reality which is difference), that "weaving matters' are those intimately bound with creating and recreating, resisting and asserting, and that this exhibit, it might help everyone to realize what real power is all about, and, as a feminist, I believe that our movement must integrate the cultural work of our sisters into feminist analysis and practice. Images tell us who we most profoundly are and can be and it is folly to ignore or diminish their "weaving matters is weaving mater(s)"the attachment of women, mothers and the "If more people were to come and look at that their bodies are sacred and deserve respect." Goddess. Sasha McInnes says that "weaving is a birth - as a woman does in the womb". importance to our work." 11500000500505,5550100 O O O In the company of many others, I turned out on the evening of February 14 to view the work of Sasha McInnes. Naive, I had no sense of what I was about to experience. Mention weaving to me and all I could think of was Jan Korteweg placemats. Green ones at that. I was in awe as I entered the room where Sasha's pieces were hung. Every wall was cloaked in these magnificent creations - powerful visions - brilliant in colour and design. The room pulsated with energy and emotion. Enthralled, it was a struggle moving from one piece to the next, each like a magnet, drawing one back. Something very special happened to me that night. My spirit was lifted. O Touched to the core, I left feeling I could get on with life again. I'm still shaking my head thinking about it . . . 11DAtt. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISIONNorthern PDFCompressor Woman Page 1- �REPORT ON THE NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO SURVEY OF THE HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF GIRLS In Virtually every behaviour and attitude associated with health and well-being attitudes and behaviours. declined as the grade increased. The girls in high school exercised less and ate fewer meals than younger girls, and compared to the winter of 1990, 1416 girls in Northwestern Ontario participated in a survey to identify their health-related Liz Diem and Linda McKay, nurse researchers, conducted the survey on girls in grades seven to ten in the City of Thunder Bay and the Districts of Kenora and Rainy River. The nonrandom sample was 25% of the number of girls attending the specified grades in the city and districts at that time. The survey was initiated because an earlier study on infant death rates in the northwest revealed a poorer health status and higher pregnancy rates for adolescent females than those in the remainder of the province. As expected, risk behaviours such as smoking and drinking were consistently reported by a much higher proportion of girls in the higher grades. Concern arises, however, from the extent and degree of the Alcohol consumption risk behaviour. emerged as the behaviour showing the greatest risk: 35% of the 12 to 16 year old girls in this study reported drinking at least monthly compared to 14% of 11 to 17 year old males and females nationally; 37% of the girls in grade ten in this survey reported having five or more drinks at one sitting six times or more compared to 21% of girls in grade eleven nationally reporting regularly having five or more drinks at one time. Alcohol is an even greater problem because very few of the girls who drank felt that their drinking would cause them-health problems. #A####### On the positive side, the study obtained information that could improve the timing, content and delivery methods of specific health progammes such as drug awareness, sexuality and physical activity. The findings girls tha same age nationally, had lower self- also indicate that a community approach esteem, poorer mental health and more would likely be the most effective in reducing the risk behaviour of these girls. Hopefully this study will provide direction and incentive for the institutions and residents of problems with parents. Some of these behaviours apply to a greater extent to the girls living in the Districts of Kenora and Rainy River and the rural areas around the City of Thunder Bay. For example, there was a higher consumption of alcohol and marijuana, less compliance with vehicle safety practices, and more problems with parents reported by the girls in the district group. Northwestern Ontario to work together to improve the health-related behaviour and attitude of some of our most vulnerable residents, adolescent girls. A number of questions were asked to determine the health-related concerns of the girls. Level of concern indicates the amount of interest in an area, and thereby might provide some clues to levers for initiating change. The 'future' ranked as the overall number one concern, with aspects of appearance (skin, weight, figure, teeth, hair) accounting for five of the top ten concerns. Relationships with family and friends accounted for two of the top ten concerns. The sexuality-related issues of AIDS and STDs rounded out the top concerns. Interestingly, concern about alcohol and drugs were not priorities, despite the high level of alcohol use which emerged in the study. Further investigation to determine the particular aspects of the future which are concerning the girls is warranted. The report is available from the Centre for Northern Studies, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, P7B 5E1 for $10.00 Liz Diem Linda McKay School of Nursing Lakehead University - RONNIES' BED & BREAKFAST dot. ea 0 /ft e/f Located in downtown Montreal in a quiet luxurious setting, offering first class accommodation for women traveling on business or pleasure. Includes European Continental Breakfast. 783 rue Guy, Montreal, Quebec 113J 1T6 Tel./Fax (514) 939-1443 Rhona Luber Cantor, Proprietor 4. ii Update on the Women's Studies Program at Lakehead University been an interesting and challenging year for Women's Studies at LU. 1991-92 has While the program is only in its second year of operation, interest in Women's Studies has grown tremendously among students and faculty. Enrolllment in the first year course, "Introduction to Women's Studies" rose from 20 to 110, and high increases were noted in several of the cross-listed courses as well. The broad cross section of students in the courses bring a wide range of life experiences to the classroom making for some sessions! stimulating and challenging ######################### With program budgeting very tight, most of our energies this year have been devoted to We have "creative" program planning. worked with a variety of other departments to expand the number of cross-listed course offerings. Three additional courses will be cross-listed for 1992-93 - "Canadian Women "Sociology of Women", and "Women and Sociological Theory". In addition, two new courses are in Historical Perspective", being developed for the spring and summer session this year. Dr. Margaret Johnston from Geography and Northern Studies will teach "Exploring Feminist Geography" during evenings in the spring session and Lisa Richardson from Classics will offer "Women in Classical Antiquity" in the summer session. Recent events associated with Women's Studies were: performance of "The Body Image Project" on March 3rd a and a public lecture by Dr. Lois Wilson, Chancellor, LU - Thursday, March 5 For further information on the Women's Studies program or upcoming events please call Pam Wakewich at 343-8937. ######################### PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 12 �by Josie Wallenius I met Lilian and Ofelia at the International Women's Conference on Women and the Environment, held in Miami, November 1991. My going to the conference was something had of an act of willfulness because LILIAN, I decided that I wouldn't go to conferences couldn't see the point. Any any more. international conference I had been to in the past had named world capitalism and imperialism as the enemy of the planet, and despite our knowing this fact our impotence I OFELIA, to confront it in the West had become a harrowing grief to me and many other women I know. I finally decided to go because I heard that respected were going, and women because it is warm in Miami in November. AND I There were at this conference about 1500 women from all over the world, and some really good speakers. Marilyn Waring told us about how the boys didn't think it was very cost effective to have so many people on the planet. Vandana Shiva said capital was going where it had never been before - ie control of human reproduction and seed re-generation. Rosalie Bertell said the military was the wolf The next day at 2 p.m. we met at the end of a corridor which was the only space we could get, and sat the chairs in a circle. There were only about eight of us, including two of my radical friends. I had persuaded these two friends to come because they HOPE were angry at some of the liberal junk flying around and I had promised them that this workshop would be different. in sheeps clothing and we shouldn't be Ofelia started off in halting English to explain surprised that all the chemicals were killing everything and beginning to kill everybody because chemicals are all spin-offs from the military and made to kill anyhow. something about circles and webs. One of my friends, a native woman, said "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm feeling very angry and I know I won't be able to stand this, really can't stand any more, so I'm leaving." So of course, most of the women were very angry and fed-up women, with some of them more frightened than others, a phenomenom that has always interested me. The ones who seem to be most frightened are the women who don't seem to want to explore everything down to its root, as though they are frightened of where the root lead them. The ones who are not will frightened seem to be the women from other countries who are at the bottom of the heap, and also the women from the West who know exactly why some women are further down the heap than others and that indeed, the imbalance of the heap is going to be the death of us all, and are therefore trying to do something about it. On the second day of the conference I got up early and walked out of the posh hotel where we were staying. I passed by some black men sleeping by the side of the road, curled around their shopping carts full of old coke cans that they sold for a living. entered a small diner a few blocks away. I There was a woman sitting by herself, and I sat down and ordered coffee and we began to talk. This woman's name was Ofelia, and she was from Venezuela. Ofelia was very angry. She had come to this conference to tell the women there about her visions of "what had to be done" and she didn't see any outlets appearing for her to speak. She seemed to me to have some interesting especially about racism and capitalism, so I said I would help her to get a workshop organized and advertised. ideas, I Ofelia called after her to no avail. The angry woman, who knew much about circles but was more worried about land and indigenous genocide walked away. ()fella, looking very sad, continued. She asked if we would pick a partner and talk to this partner for 5 minutes so we could get to know each other. My other radical friend who was sitting by my side gave me a around at the organisers' desk, getting flyers made up, going around the hotel looking for a suitable space for a workshop, and generally talking up her workshop as much as I could that we had scheduled for the next day. spoke to my friends. "Look, you must come to this workshop. This Venezuelan I woman has something important to say, do come." I though I was sitting in a kitchen with the smell of bread baking, and that everything was alright in the world, and stuttered, "Well, I'm a sort of, well, a sort of Peace I nudge in the ribs that nearly knocked me off my chair. activist I guess." "I'm exiting via the bathroom" she said, process, introducing our partners to the Lilian smiled, and we went through the due which she then did, casting a baleful look other women, and I began to get fidgety. back towards me as she went. I spoke up. "Ofelia, what are we here for?" As my friend walked away she passed another woman who was walking towards us. I had not seen this woman before and she did not look like a 'conference woman.' Ofelia looked harassed, she looked at her watch, then began talking quickly, showing She was dressed in brown corduroy trousers and a plain yellow jumper and she carried a sensible jacket. She had short straight silver supposed to describe some kind of process. She was obviously leading up to something. hair and wore no jewelry or makeup. I would say she was about 50 years old and she had bright friendly eyes. Because there were spaces now on both sides of me she sat down by my side and became this partner was supposed to talk to for 5 I minutes. I thought "In for a penny, in for a pound," and gave myself up to a process have become sickened with because it usually I evades any consequence. communication of real "Hello," said this woman, "My name is Lilian." I spent all of that day with Ofelia, pushing will never forget Lilian's face as she asked me this question. Her face made me feel as Lilian told me that she lived in Miami, and worked as a school secretary. Although she was active in her union she had never been to a big conference before. She had read about this International Women's Conference in the Miami newspapers, and had thought it might be 'interesting' so she just took an afternoon off work. She said she just walked in the door of the hotel and walked up the stairs, saw us sitting on the floor and decided to join us. She then asked me with great friendliness who I was. us charts of circles and words that was She then suddenly flung the charts to the floor and looked at us beseechingly. "I haven't got time. I am trying to explain what happened to us in Venezuela, but they haven't given me any overhead projections or a slide projector, and I can't show you what I want to show you. Its the slides that would really explain it. I have been working for seven years with the poor street women of Venezuela, and what we did was collect the empty coke cans from the streets and sell them to the Mafia, and we bought seeds, and we took over some of the waste land they couldn't use any more because it was so filthy, and we cleaned it all up and we planted vegetables and flowers to sell in the markets, and if you could have seen the pictures of the vegetables and flowers, they are so beautiful, you would see why we are so proud of what we have done." Ofelia sat on the ground and she was gazing into space, looking at her memories, and the transformed wasteland of Venezuela that the women had created. As looked at her transformed could see it too, and I realised what the other women had missed. seeing I I PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Noithein WA ma i .06641: �They had missed a glimpse into our own Us big conference women were sitting in the future. They had thought that Ofelia was not radical enough for them, and I realised I had thought that as well and would have missed it like them if I hadn't bumped into Ofelia for coffee, or had Lilian walk out of nowhere to sit in the space by my side. back of Lilian's car talking about the big conference coming up in Brazil in 1992, Lilian was busy taking notes. She asked me and time, and which was being organised by the real people who knew only justice could save the planet. I guess I was feeling sad when we admitted to this dreadful tiredness. who had been the best speakers because she wanted to get tapes of their speeches. I walked around the conference halls with her while she collected the tapes of Waring, where the people who were killing the world were going to pretend they were saving it. Us big conference women said we were simply too worn out to go to the counterconference being held at the same place CHILD CARE REFORM Child care workers, parents and community activists are encouraged to participate in the Ontario government's consultations on child care reform. The government's consultation paper "Setting the Stage: Child Care Reform in Ontario is a comprehensive document that clearly portrays the issues that have led to the present day care crisis; outlines the principles upon which the NDP government will base reform; and seaks public input on questions regarding quality, affordability, Shiva, Bertell and others. There were a few moments of silence. I said from the back of the car, "What do you think We went from table to table where she unerringly picked up the most riveting, Lilian." accessibility and management of a reformed child care system. dangerous and powerful information from each table. Her bag was stuffed full to overflowing, and she carried this bag as though she was carrying precious stones. "Oh" said Lilian, "I have already decided to Public meetings to discuss child care reform go." will be held in Kenora, May 12 and in I bet Lilian will bump into Ofelia in Brazil. day She listened to conversations of the women who had been to many conferences. noticed extremely, "quick". Lilian, I in fascination, was We got into a conversation with a big conference woman who thought Jimmy Carter was a good man. I said that Jimmy Carter worked for the National Endowment Thunder Bay, May 13. Contact your local care centre or the Ministry of Community and Social Services office in your area to obtain consultation paper. a copy of the If you would like more information about Northwestern Ontario day care concerns, contact the Northwestern Ontario Regional Day Care Committee, PO Box 144, Thunder Bay, Ontario or phone 807 -3458803. of Democracy and that anybody who worked for that organisation had to stink. The big conference woman seemed to doubt what was saying, and that really I depressed me. As Gillian Hunt has written, ... "those that understandeth not Ned understand nowt" but Lilian's eyes lit up. Lilian wanted to know all about the National Endowment of Democracy and she asked me to send her all the information I had on N.E.D. to her when I got home. Lilian took us Th her car for a tour around the Miami that we were not supposed to know about, like the places where the homeless live in shacks under the bridges. Welcome back, HERIZONSM!!!!!!!!!!! The Northern Woman Journal and thousands of Canadian women are delighted to know that Herizons has reached their 3,000 subscribers pre-publication target and On Leaving Well I said happily to the mistress of the house as she lightly gathered her skirt about her knobbly knees, well I mean how does one cope in these changing times? Her face turned ashen and she spoke of broken hearts, broken families, the harsh competitive nature of survival, feeling only quicksand when left completely adrift like that. The she collected all of her finest china, the stuff she never let loose from its round glassed-in cabinet, and she showered it against the nearest wall. Being composed of plaster the wall began to dent, over and over again, until the quiet ivory reflections became marred and chipped. But the wall remained. Taking a coffee spoon she proceeded to dig, slowly at first, into the plaster, going round and round, her tongue tracing out the hole she had gouged. She remained in her fear, frantically labouring on the small, miniscule hole. No one told her the door had always been open. that the first new issue of this revitalized national feminist magazine will be published by the end of March. The new Herizons will pick up where the old left off, offering national news and features on women's issues from a feminist As a subscriber-driven perspective. publication, over 90% of Herizons' revenue will come from subscriptions. No more long-term reliance on short-lived government grants! keeping with Herizons' tradition, the magazine will reflect a style that's dynamic, challenging and creative. Each issue will deliver in-depth features, interviews, news, film and book reviews, regular columns and great illustrations! In Financial co-ordinator Patricia Rawson is convinced that a financially independent Herizons will mean the magazine will be stronger than ever. And then she slumped sweating onto the divan. Her skirts covered in plaster dust settled about her once more. "Herizons will be accountable only to its readers and that's an important feminist think feminists are ready to statement. make a commitment to support a national Grimacing politely she referred to others as if they were dead, and continued to sip, sip her tea. magazine like Herizons that's easy to read and relevant to their lives." Barbara Lysnes July 1983 You can send your subscription cheque for $21.40 ($20 plus GST) to: Herizons, PO Box 128, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 2G1. For more information call (204) 774-6225. I ********************************** PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 14. �continued from pg 4 When we learn history, the true history from our perspective, because the crap that they I was speaking at a conference and I started feeling very insecure again, and I thought, I can't talk, so I just let my heart speak and I started crying almost immediately, but it was ok, because I told them about Mother Earth. I told them about our people getting sick and dying. That's a reality. David Suzuki speaks about when they used to send the canaries into the coal mines to see if there was gas escaping, and if the canaries died then they got their asses out of there. Well, our people, the aboriginal people are the canaries and yes, we are dying. Our people are dying. And you can't afford to lose us. You can't afford to lose us because we hold the key as caretakers of this land. People always want to know, what can I do? How do I learn? How many of you have ever been to a Native community? Go and get to know Native people, go into the communities, go to our meetings. Sign us with our national papers and learn what our Go and sit in the audience and see what it feels like to be a minority, to be the only non-Native person in the room. Sit there and learn humility, because I've had to learn that. For years and years and years, issues are. being the only Native person in the room. And it's not a good feeling and many times I've been the only woman. Some of you have probably experienced that as well. Native people are really good at spotting a true person, we can spot the fakes, I think, faster and easier than most. If you have a good heart and you come in and you want to really genuinely want to help or do something or even learn, we'll spot that and you'll be welcomed. But those of you who aren't, those of you who our people don't trust, you also need to understand that a lot of our people still are feeling the anger. teach in school is not the history from our perspective. There are two books that would recommend for people to read and I both of them are by Jeffery York, Dispossessed and People of the Pines. And you'll find out about what's happened, especially down east with the Mohawk or black, if you don't get angry at the injustice, then I don't know what hope there is. But understand that our people have to her and we begin to get in touch with our go through that period of anger when we first learn the terrible injustices that have been committed in this country. The only way that I'm going to feel better about it is when we all start changing our behavior. That we all start looking at one another as We all look at and human beings. understand that you have a spirit just as I do, you have a mind, you have a body, you're no different than I. Les Les ateliers informatifs interessants. comprenaient une variete de sujets qui nous touche tous, et la participation a permi de stimuler nos reflexions et d'echanger nos vecu en tant que femmes francophones vivant en milieu minoritaire. autre objectif de ce colloque sur l'intervention feministe etait de produire un outil de travail sur l'intervention ferniniste Un par les femmes du nord-est ontarien comme par celles de l'exterieur. C'etait une occasion unique d'echanges pour les francophones qui font l'intervention aupres des femmes. Female, Mother Earth. When we learn from own womanhood and we understand nurturing and healing, this is when we will see this world around us changing. We call her Mother Earth, even in your mind if your embarrassed to say it anywhere else. And remember now, you have the environmentalists that use the words reduce, reuse and recycle. Well add two words from us as aboriginal people, and that is respect and responsibility. Because those are the two most important words that go with But my race has another gift - the gift of vision. And the prophesies have told us of caring for our Mother Earth, it's respect and All of you that have responsibility. these times that are coming, and we're children, or hope to have children, or you are even a child of somebody, we owe it to hanging in there, by a tiny thread. And the people like myself right now who are on that good red road and have gone back to the traditional way, we're growing every day. Encourage them, cause this, to me, is where I found my strength, my self-empowerment as a woman, as a Native person, was going the ones that aren't here yet to stand up and walk with our hearts out front. To make the change that is needed, to begin the healing with me, to go to family, to community, to nation, to Mother Earth. back to the traditional ways. That's where our power is as Native people. When we go back to our ways, believe me, it ain't easy being Indian. All the people that come to our circle and sit with us and want to learn Native spirituality. It's not some little new age" thing that you just read about and you feel the energy and you go on and carry %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %%%%%%%%%%%°/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 % 0/0 °/0 0/0 0/0 °A 0/0 % %%%% defir a ete frequents par formidables presentations du panel on fait surgir des discussions et commentaires pratiquee environment, that's just a big word that really doesn't say a hell of a lot. Think about it as PORNOGRAPHY RULING II y a eu une colloque a Subdury le 6, 7, et 8 fevrier 1992, donner par Le collectif des femmes francophones du nord-est Le nom de cette colloque ontarien. environ 300 femmes de la region. at yourself with total honesty and live your life with that honesty. There is one thing I want to finish with, I hope all of you, in some way will, when you think about the environment, don't think about it as the Mother Earth who gives us the gift of life, who gives us the plants, the animals, who keeps sharing with us. She's the ultimate people and if you don't get angry, just as a human being, never mind red, white, yellow "RELEVONS LE DEFI" " A SUDBURY "Relevons le a crystal or whatever. It is hard work being a spiritual person because you need to look de The ANNUAL NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO REGIONAL DAY CARE FORUM will be held in Thunder Bay,at the Prince Arthur Hotel, Friday evening, March 27 and Saturday, March 28, 1992. The keynote speaker is the Honourable Howard Hampton, Attorney General of Ontario and MPP Rainy River who will introduce the government's consultation paper Child Care Reform in Ontario: Setting the Stage highlighting the principles on which reform will be based. Forum delegates will have the opportunity to discuss the child care reform paper in workshops on Saturday. Panel presentations on Northwestern Ontario Regional Day Care issues and on New "This is a stunning legal victory for This is a world historic women. importance," stated law Professor Catharine McKinnon, who along with Andrea Dworkin had led the anti-pornography movement in North America. McKinnon was referring to the February 27, 1991 Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the federal obscenity law. According to McKinnon, Canada is the first country in the world to recognize in law the link between hard-core pornography and violence against women. In the unanimous decision, the Supreme Court considered the obscenity provisions of the Criminal Act "are the kind of reasonable limit the Constitution recognizes as justifiable in a free and democratic society"; and said that Parliament was acting within its power in "outlawing sexually explicit material that society considers will contribute to the serious social problem of violence against women". The ruling clears the way for the reintroduction of child-pornography which Developments in Child Care. legislation Parents, child care workers and community activists are encouraged to participate in the Forum. Child care will be provided. Travel and accomodation subsidies may be applied for by regional delegates. For mere (Globe & Mail) Justice Minister Kim Campbell hopes to reintroduce next fall. information call NWO Regional Day Care Committee (807) 345-8803. 888888888888888888888888888888888888 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woliran 2ege 15 �Direction generale de Ia condition feminine de l'Ontario Ontario Women's Directorate GRANTS INFORMATION RESOURCE SEXUAL ASSAULT PUBLIC EDUCATION GRANTS - MAY COMMUNITY GRANTS 1992 At the January Community Grants Review women's groups were approved: of a five year mandate. This year, in consultation with a community advisory Dating Violence, Young women in danger, Kapuskasing Area Council and edited by Barrie Levy. This book focuses on the plight of teenage women who are Action Centre relationship to to begin coordination in the particularly vulnerable violence. Dating Violence brings together community as a follow-up to the researchers and activists, professionals, Northern Voices Conference young people to provide a comprehensive, Northwestern Ontario Women's cross-cultural view of the problem. Decade Council to coordinate and facilitate a Cabinet Forum for regional women to present Allies In Healing, by Laura Davis. Author of "The Courage to Heal Workbook" and their concerns to government. coauthor of "The Courage to Heal". Based o committee, May has been designated as Sexual Assault Month. $210,000 will be awarded to groups to assist them in promoting increased awareness and to emphasize prevention in their communities. o OWD's Public Education Campaign will consist of television advertising aimed at adults 18-49 and will be supplemented by public service announcements. The PSAs will be available to groups to air at their local stations. Radio ads will be aimed at teens and will be aired on stations that reach the largest numbers of teens. Trades and Technology offers practical advise and to create a newsletter and hold a Davis encouragement to al partners -- girlfriends, workshop for networking of women boyfriends, spouses, and lovers--trying to in trades & technology. support the survivors in their lives while tending to their own needs along the way. Submission deadline for community grants is against the law newspaper ads will be run again this year and the Directorate will mail information judges, Ontario Northwestern Ontario Women in on in-depth interviews and workshops, Laura o Against our will to CENTRE Committee meeting the following grant Some of the recent additions to the applications received from Northern Northern Office Resource Centre include: The Sexual Assault Initiative is in Year Three packages Bureau du nord 107C, avenue Johnson Thunder Bay (Ontario) P7B 2V9 (807) 345-6084 Northern Office 107C Johnson Ave. Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 2V9 (807) 345-6084 is April 1, 1992. Sexual Harassment of Working Women, by Catharine A. MacKinnon. A study of crown attorneys, district and public health units, VON branch 'offices, gynecologists and sexual harassment in the workplace makes unique contribution at several a levels...Mackinnon moves into the economic, social, and political considerations that underlie the legal problem. [She] offers us important information about a dark side of our society, a sensitive insight into the plight psychiatrists offices, etc. of those on the receiving end of sexual harassment, and an eloquent statement of her vision of equality between the sexes. It quickly becomes therefore, a book for everyone. La reconaissance des acquis, Marthe Sansregret, PH.D.. Son ouvrage sera utile a plusieurs administrateurs, conseillers et evaluateurs pour implanter de nouveaux programmes et ameliorer ceux deja offerts. La feminisation des titres et du discours au gouvernement de l'Ontario. Publication de la direction de Ia condition feminine en Ontario. e4 I 05 es, 2 00 WI loses\ tl° viese,,,ost so:levr:oe,:rott;es:_s Oq' 4e ictoT 142 co° ss v(.13ototIlsi ook Oel Fot Nles stele Ovt Nescs rie txs 04,00. ;eg 1.,se Ve. as 314 colot:0301,40xx°:1013 Vave ,se 00, sett les,vs'osea t`oe etetA, ot 4Ie TfcatIt`oe IN° 2, stNatOts too\ 62Ss e 0 #1 c§o,c\es., 31.4 au gouvernement de economique sur Ia situation des ontaroises chefs de famille monoparentale. Publication de Ia federation des femmes canadiennes frangaises. Ce dossier socio-economique represente un outil pour sensibiliser le milieu et informer les femmes chefs de famille monoparentale. oses\ 0e2N 0 otNecItepNo6sels, keoce. 'ate, ,oiogItsoll vete Ita o loses\ Ps ItN3IG°"ist.,vse, liottNeo 6169e tot ttNe Vbessi tot s °6 ilsk°90:151:62:62::6, 00000ele IsoolCoe6::::. toses communications l'Ontario. Seules en grand nombre, dossier socio- Vra sleasited voexas, Ce document propose une orientation qui, refletant les plus recentes tendances observees au Canada, s'inscrit dans Ia foulee des initiatives federales et quebecoises. Ainsi on vise a rendre les femmes plus visibles dans les This page is sponsored by the Ontario Women's Directorate. The material contained on it may be photocopied and distributed without permission, but with credit to the original source or the Ontario Women's Directorate. Cette page est marrainee par Ia direction de la conditon feminine en Ontario. Les materiaux gi-inclu peuvent-etre copier et distribuer sans permission, mais avec accreditation envers la source original, la direction de Ia condition feminine de l'Ontario. Sv't PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Sacaufil Class Mali Iles 'strati** Na. 51117 MAIL TO:. RETURN TO: THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. BOX 144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 Return Postage Guaranteed IS THERE AN ASTERISK ON YOUR LABEL?? PLEASE RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Don't forget to renew your SUBSCRIPTION NAME ADDRESS POST AL CODE $8.00 Individual Institutional $16.00 NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4Y5 coneetwelY PN opepow iikpke producsd JANE sA,. "NDERs x4eIck0Ao tANIAGpixr 0049-04 s stv°5' CHRIS ***************************************************************** PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 14 No 1 Description An account of the resource Vol. 14, No. 1 (March 1992) Title: Northern Woman Journal Languages: English, French Topics include: Government funding cuts Women Uniting for Change Conference Women and mental health Women in a violent society Central American immigrant values & Canadian values Indigenous women Weaving at Thunder Bay Art Gallery Northwestern Ontario survey of the health and social behaviour of girls Women’s studies program Lakehead University International Women’s Conference - Women and the environment, Miami Childcare reform Herizons Pornography legislation French women’s collective, Sudbury Sexual assault public education Authors/contributors: Gloria Harris Maria Teresa Trainer Lorraine Sinclair Josie Wallenius Ontario Women’s Directorate Margaret Phillips Rae Ann Honey Margaret Johnston Jane Saunders Chris Snyder Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English French https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2826/1992_Vol_14_No_2.pdf 8e213ea57f71ba03f9260031383c9247 PDF Text Text 0 VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2, JUNE 1992 Thunder Bay, Ontario I I 2006 ii 03 I 1 4 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �EDITORIAL The Canadian women's movement, and in particular feminist publishing, owes a huge debt of gratitude to PANDORA, the Halifaxbased feminist newspaper, for their fortitude in defending their right to their women-only policy. After two years of travail, PANDORA has defeated the challenge to their editorial policy. PANDORA's action exemplifies the determination women must have to pursue our goals. Their courage strengthens us all. The challenge to their policy began in 1990 when PANDORA refused to print a letter a man intended to write reaction to a in PANDORA article on child custody. The man, a 'father's rights' proponent, filed a complaint with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. It is not surprising that the man filed a complaint. What is surprising that the Human Rights Commission is and after complaint, the accepted unsuccessful conciliation meetings, sent the complaint to a full Board of Inquiry. In March 1992, the Board of Inquiry dismissed charges of sex discrimination by PANDORA. against PANDORA, accepting PANDORA's right restrict access pages to the women While wetobreathe a sigh to ofits relief that women "remain materially because inquiry went in PANDORA's favour, WE disadvantaged to men wonder what (whereand andunequal when) the nextas a group by reason of sex, in fact if not in law" assault on women will be. (In fact, it came because "men have ofadequate bombing the with the quiteandquickly opportunity viewsisand Morgentaler Clinictoinexpress Toronto.)their Misogyny opinions in the mainstream media without rampant in our society, the efforts to silence entry into this women's place." In his and control women ever increasing. decision, the Inquiry adjudicator wrote that "the denial access by PANDORA to men the of enormous strain that Despite does not cause material or substantial PANDORA's volunteer collective membersharm men, despite particularly in comparison to the weretounder, the threats of violence to women of having a women's theybenefit received, and despite having to direct only publication." their energy into fund-raising to cover legal costs, PANDORA continued to publish So PANDORA joins WENDO in Ontario We admire 'theii and throughout this ordeal. the Girl Guides in BC in defending the strength. women-only policy that is vital for women's tocosts give voice and space women. Thegroups financial to PANDORA aretoheavy (expected to exceed $25,000), and it is But the remains: why would the reported thatquestion the Human Rights Commission Commission even accept this has Human refusedRights financial compensation. vexatious complaint? A further issue was the demeaning language used Please by the PANDORA deserves our support. Commission's counsel in reference send donations to: PANDORA, P.O. BON to PANDORA and its witnesses (e.g. hysterical 8418, Station A, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K and crazy). While the Commission issued a 5M1. release stating its "regrets that remarks in the written submission have been construed as stereotyping women," the Commission has refusedNV to make a public apology called for ,9L? On May 18, at 3:23 am, a gasoline bomb placed by anti-choice terrorists destroyed the Morgentaler Clinic in Toronto. Police miracle someone wasn't killed." For the first time, anti-choice extremists brought U.S. style violence into Canada. Molly's Clothworks and to Fabulous Finery women of They want deprive Canadian 3 r. Dear Women, (807) 626-9280 the FAX: right to choose and they don't care 1217 RIDGEWAY STREET, THUNDER BAY ONTARIO, P7E 5.12 at this time is crucial who gets hurt. ItCANADA that we speak in support of CARAL and things that you can do: As some of you may know, since moving to Thunder Bay.., against this violence. There are two have wanted to become involved in an activity which would have some personal meaning, would subsidize my art and that would not be an conflict I think that given my relationship. nd it but to be sure I'd Like to consult I I ng through Southeast Asia and India recently, umber of women's cottage industries and ich are producing wonderful women's clothing, Many of these are made from hand-woven es. silk and are hand-painted/printed/dyed and lished with embroidery and mirror work. They from 8 to 18 and are roomy, colourful, very d beautifully made. would explore the potential met asked if g these garments for the women of Canada. the purpose of the collectives is to create excited about the for possibility e and empowerment the womenofofworking the have ordered a number of items which will I me in August. am trying to establish a mailing List orthwestern Ontario who may want to be anticipate that n the garments arrive. hibition/sale will occur in Late summer. ery excited to have you come and see the But, e women and to buy if you wish. want your feedback on the ntly, . I I I nt to be informed about the date of the n/sale, please send me your name and address advise you once the date has been set. much. Write to Ontario Attorney-General Howard Hampton and Ontario Premier Bob Rae. Demand that they put an end to the harassment of women and doctors which led to the Morgantaler Clinic bombing. Ask the government to take out a public injunction against the harassers. The Hon. Howard Hampton Attorney-General of Ontario 720 Bay Street, 11th floor TORONTO, Ontario M5G 2K1 The Hon. Bob Rae Premier of Ontario Main Building, Legislative Assembly Queen's Park TORONTO, Ontario M7A 1A1 nnes OLLY" was my maternal grandmother who would n a professional artist had she not been sewing and embroidering for her L3 children: Please consider making an emergency donation to CARAL The Canadian Abortion Rights Action League 344 Bloor St. W. Ste. 306 Toronto, Ontario M5S 3A7 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS WOMEN AS PEOPLE - INTRODUCTION TO 001000101040104/10400400044.10:04votwee04.0,4) The fall and winter sessions have drawn to a close at Lakehead University; this marks WOMEN'S STUDIES endCanadian of a course that has greatly Advisory Council on Status of the When registered in "Introduction to Women's Studies", I speculated as to what the course content would be. I was told that Women's Studies is a fairly new discipline and I I was interested to find out what a course specifically related to women would involve. I presumed that current women's issues would be discussed. Over the past school year I have become more aware of contemporary issues, however, this course encompasses much more. I produced a new1100 fact sheet on impacted Women upon me.has Women's Studies andofPoverty. Some and facts: has been Women the vehicle an unexpected precious gift - pride to be a woman. The 1989, went 51% far of single-parent women with knowledge*In I gained beyond the facts children under age 18 were poor. The presented in the course, rather, an thoroughly enjoyed "Introduction Women's Studies" and feel that I to have learned a great deal. This course has been demanding, and a substantial amount of material has been covered. For me, the most interesting aspect involved the historical analysis of past events from a feminine perspective. It seems incredible to me that so much of history has been recorded and taught from a male point of view with a male average of these families was understanding of income what it means to be a $22,609, compared to $55,705 for twowomen was accomplished. parent families with children under age 18. The poverty line for a family of four in a large Women's Canadian Studies iscity not was a "male bashing" $24,700. Too many course, nor is it the arena for feminist women are poor. recruitment. It is the study of women as people. *Because A combination of not history andsubsidized there are enough sociology child gave a spaces, complete care somepicture women of cannot look or accept employment. women's for evolution. 1989, more Furthermore, Inthe than two million childrencreated neededasome kind contemporary issues introduced of child care because their parents were personal atmosphere, thus, a genuine employed or studying full-time outside the interest in women's struggles and victories home. However, less than 300,000 was maintained. Some of the topics relating spaces were available fill this need. Without to the female reality were: to anorexia nervosa, child care, some women cannot look for bulimia, media advertising, violence against jobs. women, low employment status and poverty. *Most women have to deal with workplace At times the information presented wasexperience discrimination, regardless of their overwhelming. However, I realizedfull time in or education. Women employed throughout1989 history women earned onlyhave 60% challenged to 70% of the amount the patriarchal earned system by men andwith as athe result, same small education. A changes woman is doubly disadvantaged to society's dictation andif she has a disability, is Aboriginal, or is a member of expectations of women have occurred. a racial or ethnic minority group. have gained a respect for women that was Members fascinating, and was intrigued to examine of these groups are often passed not present in September. Intimate over for hiring or promotion. contemporary female issues as a Women relationships with other women began, some face real discrimination continuation of women's struggles in a male of which will last a lifetime.in the labour force. dominated culture. -441101Milllow Furthermore, I am now able to see !Delon the "sugar coating" presented in our society The concept that gender is a social construct to fully understand women's in order was stressed throughout the course. haveThe discovered Victoria Women's Sexual Assault Centre disadvantaged status. impact ofavenues socialization andimplement the ways in which and am has developed three new information to help change cultural and havea influenced booklets on the subject of childhood sexual now media able toimages call myself feminist. women was analyzed and discussed. Again, abuse. This series includes "A Booklet for First Nations Adult Survivors", "A Booklet for I found this provided an insight into pervasive I am unable to fully express all that was Partners and Friends" and "A Booklet for influences on female lives. gained from this course. Suffice to say, Adult Survivors". would not have missed it for the world and As a result of having taken this course, I feel I strongly recommend it to both sexes. If you are interested in all or any of these that I have a much greater appreciation of booklets, please contact Sylvia Kenny, issues that concern contemporary women, Charlene Burford Publications Coordinator at 306-602 View bias,and that for the most part this has been accepted practice. never questioned or thought that female experiences were unique or that they have been overlooked and not considered important. I found the material I I I I and of the effect that socialization has in would determining male/female roles. be offered 1100in will Women's women's encourage thoseStudies interested Street, Victoria, BC, V8W 1J6. I at Lakehead in the coming academic year. Two issues tosections take thisare course, eitherone for personal anticipated, during the day and degree or other to obtain interest the in the evening. credits in Personally, this has Women's Issues. stimulated an interest and an incentive for me to pursue additional courses in this discipline. expression, age, ethnic/cultural background and physical ability. Joanne Cotten HERN VAL on MBER ded by rthern FAMILY PORTRAIT I A Family Portrait, Gay and Lesbian Canada '92 is a project of an inspired group of lesbians and gay men. Their goal is to unite their Canadian community by compiling a Crafters and womyn-centred organizations wishing to reserve booth space should also call or write for specific information. collection of letters, drawings, and poems by Gay and Lesbian people from across Canada. If you are interested in learning through a Their idea is to produce a written "snapshot" showing what it means to be Gay/Lesbian in Canada in 1992. Does AIDS figure prominently in the national community? Is hands on experience, or if you already have experience, we need your help as a festival Your assistance would be volunteer! appreciated in production, publicity, staging, land preparation, etc. coming out of the closet easier today than it has been? What does "Dyke" really mean? music For information or submissions contact: These are some of the questions this project NORTHERN LIGHTS WOMYN'S MUSIC significant, permanent, historical reference document, giving face to the Gay/Lesbian Canadian character. hopes to answer; the end result will be a ienne, d in act is rming, c/o AURORA; A NORTHLAND LESBIAN a short s. We nge of 8 North 2nd Ave. East Suite 210 DULUTH, Minnesota 55802 For more information about "A Family Portrait" please contact David Roman at: musical (218) 722-4903 4X8 or phone/fax (416) 778-8811 FESTIVAL CENTER P.O. Box 41, Station J, Toronto, Ontario M4J PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 3 �CABINET FORUM on NWO WOMEN'S ISSUES It was a really remarkable day. Northern women in dialogue with senior provincial decision-makers. The Provincial Government Cabinet Forum on Northwestern Ontario Women's Issues was unique. It was a new means of communication between government and the grassroots women's community. It was dynamic process in a comfortable environment - a very positive experience. At the end of the day Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, Marion Boyd said, "I think a we have shown that there is a new way to do business in government here today. And think we'll go back and see if we can't replicate this in many other communities." I The forum, organized by Decade Council and supported by the Ontario Women's Directorate brought twenty-five Cabinet Ministers, Parliamentary Assistants, MPPs, political staff and senior bureaucrats to Thunder Bay to hear presentations by Northwestern Ontario women's groups. The northern women told our reality, articulated our concerns and put forward proposals to address justice and equity issues. The presentations were impressive, the response of politicians and staff respectful, and the dialogue exchanged constructive. For the most part, women felt they were being heard, that our issues were understood, our perspective credible, and our concerns serious. Thus, women felt encouraged. Not that political promises were made to meet all requests - they weren't. For example, in response to Women's Health Information Network's splendid presentation on the problems experienced by lack of core \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ funding, Marion Boyd stated "...the whole issue of core funding is a really serious issue for most small community groups [the need to] shop around to the different ministries and see where you can get a dollar here and a dollar there. We're all concerned about that...what we are hoping to do is streamline the process...[but] we would be less than realistic with you in your communities if we weren't also clear that it's extremely unlikely given our current fiscal situation that we're "I'd like to make one commitment and it is a commitment that I as a woman, and as an MPP, and a mother, and as a wife make to my little girl and that is, one day she will have bread and roses." going to be able to do core funding for a whole raft of new circumstances. I hate to not hold out the hope that you won't. have to keep gathering those dollars in for a little while, but I suspect that will be true until we can get through this current crisis and find other ways to direct the dollars." At the same time, however, new solution's put forward, such as the Women's Economic Status Branch, sparked keen interest and a willingness to explore new Shelley Wark-Martyn A word of commendation must go to Decade Council, for their vision in promoting this important Forum, as well as for their possibilities. superb organizing skills. Appreciation must also be expressed to Marion Boyd, Ministe; The intensity of the presentations were a reminder to politicians of the continuing Responsible for Women's Issues for her enthusiam, and to NWO MPPs Attorney need to articulate women's perspective. "It's very important and it's very healthy that we as elected members keep in touch with what I feel are my grass roots. I have been involved in my community with women and women who are disenfranchised and that's what I consider my reason for being here. So that I have to, I feel for my own credibility, my own personal integrity to carry that forward in the legislature and to actually speak out for women. We have to, as women, not be co-opted into just being male in drag. What we have to cherish and keep and value is our own life experience and I believe we need you to keep helping us try to do that." Margaret Harrington, M.P.P. Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Housing. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ General Howard Hamnpton and Minister of Revenue Shelley Wark-Martin for their support. We know that the Cabinet Forum of NWO Women's Issues was just a beginning. We know that the opposition to women's equality is well-resourced and increasingly vocal. We know that each modest step the government takes with policies of social and economic justice is met with sustained opposition by the right wing. Thus we know, we must increasingly articulate our vision and renew our energy and analysis. The following are excerpts from some of the responses. Forum presentations and Readers interested in studying the briefs in their entirety should contact the individual group or the Ontario Women's Directorate. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ WOMEN'S VOTES 1992 marks the 75th anniversary of women's right to vote in Ontario. In 1917 women who crusaded for women's franchise believed that the vote would make women true and equal partners in decision making. They believed that with the vote they could impact the policies, programs, structures and institutions that controlled the quality of their lives. do with this" basis. Initiatives are announced with a very short time for the development process. Legislation, policy and programs are drafted in isolation. The parameters are set. Government releases the proposal or discussion paper and seeks feedback in one of two ways - through public outcry or through consultation. in this province we have a government who want to hear women's concerns and issues. Today is an example of that commitment. We have a government In Government continues to practise consultation on a "Let's see what you can 1992, with 11 women cabinet ministers and a Directorate devoted to Women's Issues. We have area women who have demonstrated tremendous volunteer energy, expertise and commitment in working towards women's equality. Women represent 52% of the voting population. It does not seem possible then in 1992, we would be hearing the injustices and inequality of women we have heard today. What magic will it take to translate intention into action? What is wrong when the expertise and experience of grass roots women is not honoured and respected at the level of decision making? The Northwestern Ontario Women's Decade Council believes that it is the process of consultation that disconnects the dream from the reality. Women's groups that have worked so hard to be consulted; give; and that is the end of the process for women. We have no mechanism to hold government accountable, at least not until election time. our responsibility to the women of Northwestern Ontario very seriously. The major inequality that we see in this process is that we have all the responsibility and you have all the [Decade Council] takes We thank you for today's resources. experiment of a new design in consultation. We ask that you measure the value of information that you received, against the Decade Council calls resources provided on you to share the financial resources. Not to find new money, but to find a way to put resources where they can do the most to eliminate barriers to women's full participation in all spheres - economic, social and political. HEALTH We are concerned that the voice of women will not be heard when we look for new solutions to cut the costs in the health system. We are concerned that the value of women's work will once again be overlooked. The shift in male and female work force participation rates, the disparity in earnings; the subsequent disparity in taxable and disposable incomes and the fact that women will become primary income earners, has serious financial and systemic implications for women; for both traditional and non- PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor - On IVO IL �Marion Boyd response You get to the point as we do with all of traditional families; for the community and for the North. Privatization, de-institutionalization these issues when we're under attack from very strong opponents who don't necessarily share our vision of simply having to be as and volunteer work will put many women out of paid work in the health care field. We are concerned about user fees - we have grave repetitive as we can and to count on concerns when this subject of user fees were raised at a recent First Ministers patients and their families, that the intention is certainly not to deprive people of care, but to improve the level of care and the type of communities to get the information through to those who are most concerned, the Conference, three New Democratic Premiers said nothing. If user fees are implemented, women will be hardest hit. Single parent care. mothers would be in the worst situation if user fees were implemented. The federal government has cut back on funding for health, education and social services. We understand that along with this, a recession and impact of free trade has led to a drop in Ontario government revenues. We understand about less money to run a program; we manage our homes in this fashion. We understand you have to cut back. We just want to participate in deciding where. We don't believe medicare should necessarily be driven into making desperate decisions because of hard economic times. We know your government is embarking on a massive restructuring of the health care system. You want to shift from illness to a preventative community based approach. In principal, we agree! We fear that the reality looks more like you are closing down hospitals and other institutions and giving the responsibility for the provision of service to individuals, families; community agencies and for- profit companies. Women will once again be given lithe voice, but majority of responsibility. Privatization is the end result of this plan. This is not what you were elected to do. We know that the vast majority of good jobs lost will be women's jobs. We also know that the not so good jobs created by privatization - less pay and less benefits - will be women's jobs. Privatization will result in the decline in the provided to our more vulnerable citizens. Access to care will quality of care become more confusing as more services will be delivered through community and/or commercial agencies. Women will be expected to take on a larger responsibility by being the primary caregivers. The present system is far from perfect. We see an enormous amount of waste and mismanagement. We want some say in the new recipe. We don't have the answers to all the questions but we know what some of the questions should be. LONG TERM CARE With the proposed Long Term Care Redirection almost a reality, it is urgent that women's voices be heard. Who in the community will be impacted most directly by these proposed redirections? The women - the traditional care-givers will assume this added task; one that our mothers' generation filled, not always easily. Their role as homemaker most often didn't include a job in the workplace and the intent here is most certainly not to minimize their role or its importance. In a 1989 study of women in Northwestern Ontario it was noted that 61% of the women surveyed were in the workforce either full time or part time, 80% were married and 84% had children. Despite these statistics and the growing concern for the woman of the "sandwich generation" we are adding one further expectation. More of us will have to assume the primary role of care-giver. The paper on the re-direction of Long Term Care assures us that we will do this task with more ease TRAINING because of the added community support services. Where are they? What are they? Recommendations: My friends in community health see no signs of funding for these new programs. It is imperative that these programs be in place and functioning before institutional care as an available option is reduced. With the growing numbers of people living well into their 90s and beyond, institutional care will Training nursing homes being owned and run by the private sector) the development of care These a OBS, student loans and income support from specific agencies are very important to these women, There have to be training programs available in the north for women to access. There is no use talking about an equitable number of women in programs if programs do not - With the possibility of more and more be out. necessary in these difficult times. Nowhere have we seen statistics or proof that these community options will be cheaper, especially in a rural setting. We have some quality. not unable to finish high school and we know low income people are more likely to drop Most reasons for the re-direction in Long reservations that community care will be cheaper and if so will it be at the cost of should people. In northern towns many women are have a vital role to play and it should not be minimized. Please don't make the same mistakes that were made in mental health!! Our elderly citizens deserve better!! Term Care have been financial ones programs replacement for education for low income exist. and educational programs should have an equity component as an All training integral part of their operations. Any casual look at training will see that women are not involved. For example, at present Confederation College has 1271 trainees in Thunder Bay and region. Sadly, it is not knovvrt-what- pcsion-ntagd-t5f-tri-t standards needs to be addressed. institutions need to be made accountable to ensure that quality care is not at risk. trainees are women, Natives or persons with disabilities. I was given a "guess" of less only being natural that care numbers which have barely changed since We see it than 10% women. No plan with goals or timetables is in place to improve these I was teaching in trades and technology providers be recognized as essential members of the Committees of Management fifteen years ago. suggested by the Community Health and Support Services. We also urge you to recognize the importance of relevant and The same situation exists in education where macly technical programs such as accountable women and seniors of the community having a seat on these Boards. The elderly of the community do want to remain in their own homes as long as it is possible and practical. They want to have some choice, some control over their future. Marion Boyd response I think a lot of the issues that you've raised have been raised around the province in other venues, and they are certainly issues that we need to take into account.... We are very well aware that there is a cost factor involved in moving to community-based care. But, the very reasons that you suggest we need to do that in terms of the empowerment of choice for individuals, we would agree with, and in no way would we dispute the need to involve those providing care as stakeholders in the consultations. We think that's extraordinarily important in all the fields so I just would hope that you are reassured on that, that indeed we do see care providers as a very important part of the decision making process. What I will tell you is very much lacking, is information going back to the institutions that are involved. These people know nothing. They have no idea and there's a lot of hysteria out there. A lot of people are really terrified that they're going to lose all their funding. We are going to become a thing of the past. - engineering and technology are filled with mainly white male students. Some individual programs have drawn up plans to attract more women entrants. However, coordinated equity planning with goals and timetables as well as identification of barriers plus workshops for faculty would be a more efficient way to handle the problem. In order to ensure the success of an equity plan attention should be paid to "training the trainers". I recommend that workshops be given to all training personnel on educational equity as well as problems that women and other equity groups encounter in training, and the workforce. This would include information of assault, prejudice, systemic discrimination and racism. training programs should contain a strategy to deal with sexual harassment including the education of both personnel All and trainees on the problem and an effective policy to deal with complaints. The definition of job safety be expanded to include the concept of safe premises for women and that the women trainees and personnel assess the premises using a standardized measure of safety such as that put out by METRAC, Toronto. Empowerment. Agencies that deal in training of women with disabilities and women on social assistance should have as a goal the empowerment of the client. 6 continued PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �O.N.W.A. ABORIGINAL WOMEN Most Aboriginal women at some point in their lives, face the fact that the current The Ontario Native Women's Association range of programs and services do not meet inherent right to self government in the Constitution Act 1867 - 1982, recognizing that as the First Nation's Citizens we were their needs: There are gaps in programs; services are inappropriate or inflexible, are insufficient, or inadequate in terms of the supports the full entrenchment of the benefits provided. historically self-governing and that our rights are recognized in Canada. In addition to the availability gap, there is also a problem related to the linguistic and The Ontario Native Women's Association cultural appropriateness of existing services. We recommend that the Ontario Cabinet agrees that the rights would be enforceable by an Abbriginal justice system, which would clearly outline jurisdiction responsibilities of all governments. support the establishment of a Native Family Resource Centre and Native Day Care as proposed by Mahmowenchike Board of The Native Family Resource Directors. Centre will develop and deliver preventative, supportive, and remedial family oriented services that are culturally relevant to the Native community. Secondly, Mahmowenchike has completed a needs assessment which documents the need for culturally appropriate child care. encouraged by the Ontario government's announcement to create over We are 400 new licensed subsidized child care spaces, and to spend monies for new that We anticipate construction. Mahmowenchike, which is a Native urban based organization, would be able to access these monies and that they are not solely directed to reserve communities. The Canadian system of justice is largely out of touch with Native concerns and is generally hostile to the needs of Native people. We would like to focus on the injustices experienced by Aboriginal women. We recommend to the Ontario Cabinet to undertake a review of the Family Law Act and to do this, in conjunction with Aboriginal women in order to effectively address the specific concerns of Aboriginal women. Aboriginal women are experiencing serious difficulties in regards to custody issues, property rights, enforcing support orders, access to services, and other family law issues. The major difficulty is the jurisdiction of the provincial family law act versus Band Council or tribal laws. The issue of individual versus The Ontario Native Women's Association wants definite, concrete action to begin immediately to end discrimination among Howard Hampton response our own people, as a demonstration of good is the conflict over the Charter with th faith in the self-governing process that we are presently involved in. The Ontario Native Women's Association believes that the components of legislation must ultimately reflect and be subject to the principal of equality, and must be applied as such, within the framework of Aboriginal Self Government. has always believed that any new or existing legislation under the Indian Act must continue to conform to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982. The Ontario Native Women's Association requires that any newly created legislation to implement Aboriginal Self Government must conform to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms under the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982, except; for those citizens who are a. members of the Longhouse who desire a shield for their traditions. Such shield shall not abrogate or de-abrogate from the basic principle of equality b no reasonable limits c. no opting out. The Ontario Native Women's Association supports the right of First Nations to determine their own membership through The Ontario Native Women's Association insists violence in the Native community has been increasingly recognized as a significant problem over the past twenty years. Families are in great distress, and trying to cope with unbearable The loss social and economic conditions of the family structure, and traditional family living, tears up the very roots of the cultural foundations of Native communities. Toleration of violence is socially, and spiritually destructive to the Native family and community. We urge leaders at all levels to make violence a priority issue. We believe that Native communities in this region are in desperate need of comprehensive community strategies to adequately address all aspects of violence such as: prevention that focuses on the emotional and spiritual well-being of the individual and the family unit; intervention that facilitates effective and responsive crisis services; education on communication, parenting, and abuse issues; treatment for all members of the training to be family; professional accessible at the community level; and expanded services for community outreach and follow-up services. position that it must apply until First Nation are able to work out their own Charter. Wiw I'm asking is, for a government that has t deal with some of these very difficult issue; can you help us out? How do we get fro' here to there? that all Aboriginal That is a difficulty for all of us and we hav no answers specifically. We hope the through legal counsel that we could, mayb there could be a moratorium on the ChartE discussion. We know that there's too muc fear at the community level with the wome that they're going to continue to bi discriminated against if the male dominate( leadership is allowed to maintain the kind c control that they've had. believe that further dialogue just on th Charter itself has to take place at this tim I because right now dialogues that have take place include other matters that supersed think there needs to t the real issues. dialogue amongst the Chiefs on the, I guez About what th the reality of the issues. manner by which the interests of everyone is protected and justice is served. of strong position that they do not want th Charter to apply, and your equally strop I collective rights must be reconciled in a extent Chiefs of Ontario leadership and their vet The Ontario Native Women's Association Aboriginal Self Government, BUT, we must insist that the right to determine membership must be subject to the Principle of Equality. The One of the issues I find particularly troublin Citizens be guaranteed economic and social rights which are those basic necessities of life guaranteed to every other Canadian; including employment, housing, social assistance, health care, education, culture, language, literacy, and the right of individual self determination. The Ontario Native Women's Association insists that prosperity must be in accord with Aboriginal Traditional Values, including respect for the preservation, protection and the replenishment of Mother Earth. women have to face in the past, th explanation of the fears that they do have there's no Charter in place and there's n definite drafts of what the aboriginal Chart( would look like. I think that's what needs i take place is that further dialogue. Marion Boyd response Your clarity and strength of your position an the discussion that you have had thi weekend is very helpful to me. I want to b very frank with you that it has been vet difficult for us to know to what extent it appropriate for us to speak on your beha and now that we have this strong positior for me as Women's Issues Minister, I fe( empowered to take a much stronger stanc on your behalf in the discussions that w have. The Ontario Native Women's Association is firm in its position that Aboriginal leadership must demonstrate its respect for Aboriginal women by ensuring that all are directly involved in self government negotiations, at all levels, so that the First Nations Circle will be complete. The Ontario Native Women's Association supports individual and collective rights, both being of equal importance to Aboriginal people, within the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. continued 131 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �Direction generale de la condition feminine de ('Ontario Ontario Women's Directorate Northern Office 107C Johnson Ave. Thunder Bay, Ontario Bureau du nord 107C, avenue Johnson Thunder Bay (Ontario) P7B 2V9 (807) 345-6084 P7B 2W (807) 345-6084 COMMUNITY GRANTS COMING EVENTS Marion Boyd, the Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, recently approved the following community grants: WOMEN IN TRADES AND TECHNOLOGY Regional women will be gathering at a conference September 25 through 27 at Eagle Lake near Dryden to talk about trades Sudbury Women's Centre to hold a twoday workshop and public information session to formulate an action plan to combat violence against women in the community. Equay-wuk Native Women's Group to hold a three day conference to link local women's groups with chiefs and councils to increase awareness among political leaders about family violence issues crucial to women. New Liskeard Student Career Awareness Committee to hold a career awareness day for male and female Grades 7 and 8 students to increase acceptance of women in non traditional roles. CABINET FORUM Northern women met with Cabinet Ministers and representatives of fourteen ministries to discuss issues including child care, economic development, violence against women, health, long term care reform, training and employment. The forum, organized by NWO 'Women's Decade Council with OWD support, was a follow up to the Women Uniting for Change Conference. Presentations were made by francophone, aboriginal and racial minority women and women with disabilities and Decade Council's subcommittees. and technologies including employment RESOURCE CENTRE equity, workplace harassment and work and family responsibilities. For further information call Marion Mac Adam, Kenora (807) 468-3698. Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Influence of Victim Stereotypes and Social Biases on Police Response to Women's Complaints of Sexual Assault, by Martha Muzychka. Report on public awareness and sensitivity to issues of sexual assault and child sexual increase abuse in Newfoundland and Labrador. English in the Workplace by Barbara Elwert. The development, organization, and implementation of the E.W.P. Pilot Project in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Canadian Family in Crisis by John F. Conway. This Canadian book examines the drastic changes in family life. The roles of family members are all affected. SEXUAL ASSAULT The Faye Peterson Transition House will sponsor a "framework for healing" conference on the issue of sexual assault. Clarissa Chandler will facilitate the two day session October 8 and 9, 1992; 9am to 5pm both days. A coffee house will be held on October 8th. A large mailout is planned for service providers and women in the community. For further information call (807) 345-0450. NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO WOMEN'S DECADE COUNCIL The Annual General Meeting of Decade will be held October 24 in Thunder Bay. For more information call (807) 683-5662. Disabled Women's Network Canada by Research in 1988 By Dawn Canada: Survey of women in violent and abusive situations. The researc1 glows wornen with disabilities are at greater risk. There's Always Been A Women's Movement This Century by Dale Spender This lively book recovers the story of the Feminism that persisted in the years after the battle for the vote. A CAREER IN POLICING Thunder Bay Police are currently recruitment for a Hiring Seminar to be held on October 3, 1992. If you are interested, or would like to arrange an individual or group session for more information on the recruitment process, please contact: Human Resources, Thunder Bay Police, 425 Donald Street East, Thunder Bay P7E 5V1 or call 625-1288 or 625-1296. ONTARIO ADVISORY COUNCIL ON WOMEN'S ISSUES Discovering Women's History by Deirdre Beddoe. Handbook for people in pursuit of the history of British women. Last fall, the Ontario Advisory Council on Women's Issues (OACWI) held provincewide consultations to determine ways of Sexual Harrassment Women Speak Out by Amber Coverdale Sumrall and Dena Taylor. improving communications between women and the Ontario government. In response to recommendations made by participants, the government of Ontario has approved a new mandate for OACWI. women's The Council will advise the government of Ontario, through the Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, on matters pertaining to the achievement of economic, social and legal equality for women. Council members will undertake community outreach and consultations to gather views of women on issues of concern in each region. Exchange of information about government policies and programs affecting women will also occur at the consultations. Nominations are invited and encouraged from women who wish to become members of OACWI; women who have knowledge of regional concerns and who have experience in advocating for women's equality. Three positions are available in each of northwestern and northeastern Ontario's regions. Nominations are encouraged from aboriginal, francophone and racial minority women and women with disabilities. Nomination forms must be postmarked by June 30. Nomination forms are available by calling (807) 345-6084 (collect). Dedicated to Anita Hill, this book tells of experiences and how INFORMATION UPDATE they responded to them. A resource section is The Northern Office is in the process of included. Coming Into Our Fullness: On Women Turning Forty by Cathleen Rountree. Learning the stories of strong women. Focuses on turning 40 as a rite of passage. Violence en heritage? Reflexion pastorale sur la violence conjugale. Dissertation sur l'eglise d'aujourd'hui qui devient consciente du probleme de la violence conjugale, dont la gravite et l'ampleur ont longtemps echappe aux regards de l'opinion publique. Femmes D'action, est une revue public par la federation nationale des femmes canadiennes-frangaises (FNFCF) et est un updating our information of women's organizations including shelters, sexual assault crisis centres and care centres, coordinating committees on wife assault and sexual assault, women's access to apprenticeship programs, unions and women's committees of unions. We have hired Chantal Trudeau through the Summer Experience Program to update our files. When Chantal calls, please provide her with the time she needs to gather information that will help us continue to support women in the north. outil d'information et de reflexion sur la condition feminine. les garderies en milieu de travail au Canada par Margie I. Mayfield pour le Bureau de la main d'oeuvre feminine, Travail Canada. Etude sur les garderies en milieu de travail. This page is sponsored by the Ontario Women's Directorate. The material contained on it may be photocopied and distributed without permission, but with credit to the original source of the Ontario Women's Directorate. Cette page est marrainee par la direction de la condition feminine en Ontario. Les materiaux gi-inclu peuvent-titre copier et distribuer sans permission, mais avec accreditation envers la source original, la direction de la condition feminine de ('Ontario. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman- Page_ �*TMOHERPAC WOMAN HEALING 1992 IMAGES OF THE CONFERENCE - skipping Thursdays workshop to cre our own version of a 'listening to the melt' ceremony. - snake dance at the closing circle, passing faces of every woman, my own hair flying wild with joy. - it's funny how I've blocked out all memories of the airboat coming in to to away the island dwellers....or driving flashlight when my alternator died half back to Thunder Bay... - women relaxed and laughing on the beach, playing with stones, the natural version of marbles. - sitting on a warm rock in the si watching the ice melt . - an argument between Vera and a white woman with a drum - saying very clearly "go and find your own grandmothers - I'm sure they were also wise..." Just don't pretend to be me. - being close to people you love . - divisions of opinion - all playing a role the politics of oppression a empowerment . - small workshop - placing my pen on the alter as a symbol of my resistance - women who touched my life in that o week - picking up another ring passed down by five grandmothers and wearing it - knowing instinctively I must pass it on to the next woman. - seeing the smoke over on our point and knowing that the cabin will be warm that night. - being on the rag and feeling very powerful. - the sound of women's voices carried through the night across the ice. TAROT - going to a conference where I can share a bed with my lover and no-one suspects us of arson. - quiet moments with friends, recovering from our insights and confusion. - a willingness to continue to struggle w ourselves as we are . - Meeting old friends that you have] seen for years and making new ones f the years ahead. - It was scary - but good . - a journal dialogue with a starving piece of my spirit, and a vision of myself sitting on the point where a blue heron lands and teaches me to fish . WRITING AS AN ACT OF HEALING - It was nice waking up in the mornir surrounded by good friends and headir for that first coffee together. ORGANIZING FOR CHANGE BODY MAPPIIN ****************** *************************************************************************************************************** NORTHERN WOMEN'S BOOKSTORE Childhood Sexual Abuse A Booklet for First Nation! Adult Survivors NEW LOCATION 65 South Court Street Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 2X2 NEW HOURS Tuesday to Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. phone: 807 344 7979 New from the Victoria Women's Sexual Assault Centre Other new titles include: Childhood Sexual Abuse -A Booklet for Adult Survivors -A Booklet for Partners and Friends For information contact 306 - 620 View Street Victoria BC V8W 1JI Tel: (604)383-5370 Fax: (604)383-6112 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 8 �* M - Watching the ice crack and flow on the waking waters of spring was like feeling - going to "Woman Healing" - a little scary, not sure what to expect. The drive there was wonderful, although the weather did a little bit of everything - it snowed, rained, cleared, clouded over again and even hailed a bit! But it was great. We were heading into an unknown - leaving kids, work, phones, and a familiar reality, behind. the walls of glass that I had entombed myself in begin to crack and fall away. - The pace and the precision of the spiral/snake dance was to me a message that no matter where our lives may take us, achieve our goals within the safety of the womb of our Sisterhood . - there were 250 women in a circle, most of us strangers to each other. I felt excited-anxious-shy-out of place. As the opening circle began and we claimed that place with our voices and our unity, I felt the power and the force of our combined strength to an awe inspiring magnitude. By the end of the greeting I was giddy and - The knowledge that for the first time in my life I was being accepted by perfect strangers just for being me with no expectations on their part . - I watched a very dear friend laugh and giggle with a seemingly uncontrollable light-headed. Never before have I felt that kind of energy. - I have never felt so safe or had such a sense of belonging and I don't think anything will have such a profound effect on my life again. - We formed a circle and greeted each other - we were strangers at that point - gaiety. I have never seen her look so relaxed and happy. It was hard sitting in a workshop listening to those around you, watching their pain and trying to contain your own until it was your turn to take the eagle feather. - - The intrusion of the "real world" was not a welcome or pleasant experience. Someone had spoken of it as "re-entry" into life. - Since coming back from the "week of but never after. - Strangers and sisters all the while. - Meeting women and sharing with them, - I learned that I was ok. In fact I was pretty special. No one had ever told me when up to that point I had only read if we hold onto our beliefs and maintain our power in unity, we can their printed word. that before . - Looking across the point and seeing - night time, after some really intense days. friendly, familiar faces huddled around the campfire - hearing their voices in a woman-song of the night. - sitting around the fire and putting back together the pieces of our souls . - moving into what we can become . - Even the wildlife seemed to sense that we would cause them no harm. healing", I have met women who recognize the T-shirt, and although we may not have personally met during the conference, there is a bond between us. - Some of the workshops were very cramped - I wish they had provided more space. - It was with great sadness that we learned that our cabin was soon to be turned over to a group of bear hunters when we left. ************************* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** ************************************************** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** HEALING THROUGH LAUGHTER SURVIVORS TALE GOING CRAZY? WHO SAYS SO? EDIAWATCH CONGRATULATIONS, KIT The 1992 MediaWatch survey of Canadian Sexist language and sexist attitudes continue newspapers finds that Canadian women continue to be under-represented in our to prevail in Canadian newspapers. False generics such as `chairman,' spokesman,' newspapers, newsmakers. ME AND MY SHADOM both as reporters and etc., used to refer to women, were seen over and over again in the survey. Also, when women are discussed, reporters focus on The third annual survey of 15 newspapers by MediaWatch, a national feminist organization details such as their physical appearance and advantages (or, more insultingly, their which monitors sexism in mass media, disadvantages) examines the number of female versus male accomplishments or achievements. bylines, the number of individual women referred to as compared to men in articles, and sexist language and attitudes in the Copies of the report, titled A Good Day to be Female? A Three Year Overview of Sexism papers. in Canadian Newspapers, is available for rather than their $5.00 from the national office of MediaWatch. Male bylines outnumber female bylines by almost three to one. The average percentage of female bylines in the group was 28%. While this year's survey saw a 12% increase in the average number of references to women over the last two years, the percentage of references to women has consistently remained close to or under 20% for the past three years. Overall, MediaWatch does not see any positive trend toward recognizing women's contributions to the news. For more information, please contact: Linda Hawke Outreach Co-ordinator MediaWatch National Office 517 Wellington St. W. Suite 204 Toronto, Ont. M5V 1G1 - from MediaWatch release Dr. Kit Minor of the Department of Social Work at Lakehead University has had a book published by Fernwood Press. It is titled Issumatuq: Learning from the Traditional Healing Wisdom of the Canadian Inuit. The publisher's catalogue states: "The term lssumataq refers to a gaining of wisdom over time and experience. The gaining of Issuma brings with it respect, and the noted ability to provide advice and insight." "Drawing on her ten years experience in the Arctic, Kit Minor helps us to understand `what' we can learn from the traditional helping wisdom of the Canadian Inuit. And this text also helps us to understand 'how' we can learn, because it argues, 'what' we can learn is directly related to 'how' we learn." "Through the development of a culturespecific design the author shows us how Inuit people and Inuit culture, when in a working relationship with members of the dominant culture, can continue to define and decide on the appropriate helping skills." PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page �at their own culture. But don't be angry at us for being angry. ft's terribly frustrating. INTERVIEW I think that people can relate, in a heartfelt way, to sexual abuse. We now know, it's Pimaatisiwin: Quilts by Alice Olsen Williams is at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery until July 5th. been allowed, that sexual abuse can be In late May, I had the pleasure of talked about. We know how crippling that is, viewing these wonderful quilts and listening to and that person who has been sexually Alice speak about her art and her abused never again has the freedom to be free, When a person who has been sexually abused starts talking about their abuse, and starts facing it, they are very, very angry. It is not that anger that is crippling, although if you read the accounts it sounds like it. It's what started that anger that is crippling, that sexual abuse, which transgresses any decency in a human being. That is why that person is angry. So if we are taught to philosophy. When Alice talked about her quilts, she did not dwell upon the technical aspects of quilting, but rather she spoke to us about the symbolism of her quilts, the evolution of her artistic expression and the integration of white women's traditional quilting blocks with the images and messages her Anishinaabe heritage. In Alice's earlier quilting years, she framed woodland style loons and geese provided by Anishinaabe believe that that anger gets in the way of communications, it's wrong. ft's a tool of the ruling class because it turns people off. artist Norman Knott, with traditional quilting block patterns. More recently, Alice has based her quilts' centerpiece designs Anishinaabe women's traditional artwork of floral and geometric patterns. Alice spoke of her quilts' central image Pimaatisiwin, which means "living a good life on this Earth". Alice's message is both very powerful and very empowering. Her beautiful quilts are a testament to Alice's philosophy of living one's life in a good way, on one's own cultural terms. have lost that, and they have that aggression that they mask by the word "assertive", but it's aggression and we feel that aggression and we are very afraid of it, because it's like being a man... MP - The whole issue of anger, there are women who are angry about various issues: poverty, violence against women and children, contraception and the freedom to choose when to have children. Some women seem to carry their anger very much in front of them, it comes before anything that they do and it can interfere sometimes with their ability to communicate. When I Michele Prodlx interviewed Alice Olsen Williams look, from very much on the outside, at MP - The fiqt thing I wanted to ask you about is your perspective as a woman. don't know if I I should use the word "feminist", if you use that word for yourself, there are different terms: woman-centered, woman-positive, woman-identified, feminist - I got the impression listening to you the other night that that is all part of your framework for quilting. AOW - First and foremost, my focus is Anishinaabe people and if it's Anishinaabe women, that's what it is. I realize that I don't like to use the word 'feminist", because, to me, if I'm a feminist, I see it as doing stuff for women, being an advocate, women things. Now the word "feminist" bothers me, because a person like Kim Campbell is a feminist, and I see her as doing noth ing for women, nothing for Anishinaabe. So if Kim Campbell and Mac leans Magazine can call her a feminist, then I have nothing to do with feminism. MP - There are a lot of faces it seems... AOW - No, she believes in it, she believes she's feminist doing these things. So what is it about our society?, its confusions?, its I believe in working for women's things but in relation to being contradictions?. Anishinaabe. I believe that we Anishinaabe people came from a society that was egalitarian, which is very different from your society which is patriarchial and on top of that, capitalist. So you have two enemies right there. As women, as decent human beings, you have two enemies. Men have an enemy also - that patriarchial structure. Men aren't free, there is no way I would want to be a man in a patriarchial structure because it doesn't appeal to that humaness, to a sensibility, to a sensitivity, to what a human being is. Sometimes I think that many people who call themselves feminists issues such as land claims and native self government, I feel that there is also anger there, justified anger, but once again, some people may be using that rightful anger as an aggressive thing that gets in the way of communication... AOW - You are talking about anger that gets in the way. While I see that as white people who have more power than any Anishinaabe, I see them being turned off because ft's something in them, because maybe it's a part of an ideology. I'll give you an example. When the Oka crisis was on, there were lots of white people of the dominant culture, who were "for" Anishinaabe. They said, 'yes, it is wrong, all these things are wrong. Their land was taken away from them, that land belongs to them. Why are these golf courses taking over, why is that allowed?" Of course, we Anishinaabe know why, but nice white people don't know why, they don't understand because, they live a more comfortable life than most Anishinaabe people do, or most poor white people do. If anybody sticks up for us, it is poor white people - never the university professors, never the doctors, never the lawyers. They are the ones who look down on us and oppress us. At Oka, non-native people said, " Yes, that land belongs to the Oka people", but you know when they started to get upset? When that Mohawk warrior faced that young white soldier. White people saw that and they were angered. So whose anger gets in the way? White people forgot what the issue was, but because they have the power, they can say "Oh, that Mohawk should not have done that to that poor young innocent soldier". We now know that soldier was not innocent. That's part of the game media plays and that's also how people are influenced. So when white people say that our anger gets in the way, it's only because they somehow are angry themselves about things, and justifyably so, when they're angry So we always have to examine these things. As soon as we isolate people who are oppressed, and say "oh, they're too dirty, they're too angry, oh they don't know how to speak English". You have to look and see, that it is for a reason, and that it is justified, because a terrible, terrible wrong has been done to them. For Anishinaabe people, the terrible, terrible wrong, when you talk about poverty, about choice, about selfgovernment, none of these things are to me the problem. ft's like trying to peel off all these wrongs, and what is the basis of these wrongs? Like the root of an onion has several little roots coming out from the main root; they are all quite main roots. So there is the taking away of the land, not just the taking away of the land, bit our connection to the land, our spiritual reason for living was taken away when they took away the land, and when they took away our language. Every Canadian here can keep their language. Look at how they hate to learn to speak French, and how the French hate to learn to speak English. We didn't even have that choice, we were taken away from our parents, from our grandparents, from our human guides in life and we were made to speak English. Our ,children don't know how to speak our language anymore, and that's another one of those 'roots'... MP When you have privilege, sometimes you don't even realize it you take it for granted, your position in society... AOW No you don't, it's white skinned priviledge and people have no idea what that means. It means, for example, something as simple as, if you are at a meeting and everybody else is white and you are a different colour. And you say something, and it's not a popular thing. I am always in that situation because I get asked to be on these committees, and here I am Anishinaabe, and they say they want to hear a different point of view. When I give a different point of view they're very upset and they start to get defensive and they think I'm radical. I am not radical, I want to go back to the basics. I end up feeling "well would they have treated me like that if I was white?" Probably if I was white I would not think like that. So I think they treat me like that because I am Anishinaabe. I am different.. I see things differently. I kind of lost the 'root' of this. Let me go back to the land; our language; our spirituality were assaulted, our population was assaulted, you know by disease and not only that but something quite as innocent as PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 10 �1 W o m e n "intermarriage". AOW Why should our anger for what has happened to us because of superior mechanisms of control such as the army, society" . . and 1 say What are you talking about?" This society is turning very right-wing - what are you talking about that Indians are having it better and better? This thing about Ovide Mercredi, this conference, thats a the police, the mass media. Why should that anger get in the way? What truly has gotten bunch of bull-shit. in the way? Let's take off the onion peel, peel these layers and find out who is the MP A big smokescreen. enemy here. Who is the one we can't work with? And how come we can't work? How come our very justifiable anger gets, as you say "in the way"? Many people believe that. I was going to finish telling you about this Oka thing. White people were really angry at that. No longer could they understand what thought she was a friend -- but I am so angry AOW It's a big smokescreen, that's a good word because if 1 say "bullshit" it turns nice white people off. Isn't that crazy? That such a little thing like that turns people off? But smokescreen - thank you - its a smokescreen of who really has the power. To people who read the newspaper, who watch the news on 71,/, it looks like Anishinaabe are really being recognized, but She wrote me a letter.. and she thats not whats happening. Whats really called us "Our Indians" this and "Our Indians" happening is very horrible - I think the noose is getting tighter and tighter. In the way that we see power and we see money . . Have you ever known anybody to willingly give up power? I think women still have a connection to the true human-being, spirituality. I don't think men do, and the Indians were fighting. at her, I have a-- I Well that is really racist. Sometimes I want to do things that white people do, to show that discrimination, that racism. Do you know I can't bring myself to do it, to say "Our white people are this, our white people are than That is really outside my realm of how to think, or how to perceive. that. White people talk about us as if they had the right to say "Our Indians are like this.." just like dogs or cats or cattle. That's the lntality and they don't even know it. This fri, d.. she said'We white people are behind yo4 but be careful, if there's any more Mint; like that Mohawk warrior facing our Cana Ilan men you're going to turn a lot of us off. The gap is just so great for white people to understand. If they are at all threatened, if their anger is touched - watch out - and they are the ones with the power. What can I do to straighten out that woman's thinking? There is nothing I can do, because she's not going to listen to me. She is not going to listen to me tell her that it is hgr anger that is getting in the way. ft is because she is white and has privilege- she is not going to listen to me because everything is on her side. Who am 1? I am Anishinaabe woman who has - quote- "made if', but I still haven't made it enough for her to respect me and listen to me. MP ft's also a question, I suppose, of the powers in control wanting to hold on to their control, to hold on to their power. AOW Another thing that people say to me is "Oh, you Indians have sure made it far in this We Honour Action ComMittee has completed their research project. Woman Killing: Intimate Femicide 19741990 can be ordered ($19.95) from the committee, 22 Parfield Drive, Toronto M2J 1B9 or (416) 491-3827. Some key findings in the report include: : between 32 and 41 women were victims of intimate femicide each year in Ontario between 1974-1990. of the developed countries, only the : United States has a higher rate of woman killing than Canada. : Women who are separated from their partners are five times more likely to be killed than other women. The predominate motive for intimate femicide appears to be offenders' rage over estrangement from their partners. Aboriginal women are at least six times more likely to be victims of intimate femicide than are non-Aboriginal women. : . certainly not the men in control. Like the proof of how wonderful we are is that we lived on this sacred land that was given to us by the creator, for thousands and thousands of years, and we never wrecked it. We always had that respect for it. Sure there's dreamy - I've never read Rousseau, what he said about the 'noble savage' - our connection to nature is much deeper than that. it:s not a dreamy notion; it made us live for thousands and thousands of years. Another thing about the difference in culture is when we leave this earth, it is intimately connected with our respect for life, we leave this earth in the way that we came in. We didn't build great big monumental buildings because that's not the way life is. When we start doing that the obvious result is death, not just the death of a couple of hundred people. ft's death of life in this whole world. When I think about the goodness of Anishinaabe, I think about how life lived for thousands and thousands of years. I think about the evil of white society, how in less than five hundred years they've wrecked this earth and the threat of all life being annihilated is very possible and has been for a long time. president of Exxon . . . They're the ones who rule the world, like the Pope . . . When white people say that Indians are doing really well, I say to them When did you ever hear about anybody willingly giving up power?" Do you think that Mulroney and all that he represents - he doesn't just represent Mr. Mulroney, he is representative of a whole ideology, a whole power structure, male oriented MP C o r p o r a t i o n based . . . AOW Yes, I say "Do you think those guys are going to give up their power? For Anishinaabe? for children? especially working class children? or poor white children? or black children? or immigrant children? ft's a smokescreen and I say to myself Why are these nice white people saying these things about Anishnaabe, thinking Anishnaabe are really doing good?" When we are not, we are still dying, we still don't have our language, our land base, our economic base which is intimately MP But still you make your quilts and they are beautiful and they give a good message to people . . . when you spoke about them you spoke about "Pimaatisiwin" . . your message of "living a good life". AOW "Living life in a good way". connected with the land. Our whole life is MP It is a good message. intimately connected with the land because ft is creation, land is creation, we are part of AOW Yes it is, and everybody should know creation and we believe that My biggest that. Dear Women, I was overwhelmed by your response to my recent exhibition, WEAVING MATtER(S) at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery. Your incredible embrace of my work was very moving and I want to thank all of you for your wonderful comments to me and for the a-mazing words you wrote in the guest book. Recently, I was given a commission to weave a tapestry for the new provincial government building in Port Arthur. I feel sure that this work would not have come my way had you not attended the exhibition in such great numbers and shared your feelings about the tapestries with such emotion, energy and eloquence. Thank you! The piece that I will weave for this space will be dedicated to all of you and will include all of you. I hope that you will like it. Sasha and Susie Q Sasha McInnes Love, PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor w1 ....al."... %itio. An ri Dann i �PRESENTATION-PAR LE GROUPE FEMININ PLURI-ELLES A L'OCCASION DU 75e ANNIVERSAIRE DE DROIT DE VOTE DES FEMMES DE L'ONTARIO La sante et les services sociaux sont des domaines tres connus des francophones, ou elles s'y retrouvent d'une part comme sujets d'intervention dans les roles de patiente, de cliente, de beneficiaire et de consommatrice et d'une autre part, comme principales dispensatrices de soins a titre d'infirmiere, travailleuse sociale, gardienne et d'educatrice. de de mere, de Tout comme les anglophones et les autochtones, les francophones revendiquent des services dand leur langue et leur culture programmes Des 3. professionnelle pour de formation les femmes francophones qui desirent mettre a jour leurs aptitudes afin de reintegre le marche du travail. Un centre de sante communautaire 4. deux volets- sante et services sociaux pourvu d'un personnel complet, comprenant des professionnels de toutes disciplines touchant Ia sante physique, emotionnelle et mentale ainsi que les services a Ia personne. Dans un tel centre, les citoyennes et les citoyens de toutes les regions designees du nord-ouest de l'Ontario pourront y recevoir des traitements et s'epanouir, afin de preserver leur sante sur tous les plans. dans une perspective de justice et de droit historique dans le contexte des canadiennes WOMEN'S ECONOMIC STATUS BRANCH demandent des services au nom de la justice sociale et le raisons differentes, la planification dolt etre sensible aux questions de langue et de culture. considerations culturelles s'appliquent non seulement a la francophonie d'origine ontarienne et canadienne mais aussi aux communautes multiculturelles francophones de la region. Toutes ces economic development of our communities and our region affects the live The fit our decisions about our present and future depends on the economy of the area in which we live. For most of us the notion some control over the way our region develops. outside the development process. d'être sensible et de respecter la culture deviennent des symboles We believe in the right of women to economic development participate in policy, decision-making and evaluation in all this province. d'appartenance et de rassemblement et d'être sensible aux differences pour que chacun pui.5se y retrouver l'identite qui lui est propre. Dans certains cas, les services sont offerts directement par le Ministere, alors que dans la plupart des cas, les services sont offerts organisme come les via un autre municipalites les organismes a but non lucratifs (protection de l'enfance) ou conjointement avec un autre ministere tel le ministere de la sante (les soins de longue duree). Les femmes francophones de cette region sont agressees, battues et assassinees et sur le plan de la prevention et des services, elle sont encore plus defavorisees parcequ'il n'y a pas de centre d'hebergement qui offre des services en franca's; or elles ne peuvent etre protegees, aidees ou guidees comme leurs consoeurs autochtones ou de langue anglaise. devenue evident aux femmes francophones de cette region sur les II est services de sante en francais c'est rove et non la reale. L'argument classique est, comme de raison, que les femmes francophones vont chercher des notions d'anglais par necessite et comprennent generalement cette langue suffisament pour « s'en tirer » . Nous tentons de modifier certaines attitudes. Nous ne desirons pas etre percues comme Nous voulons etre des victimes. participantes apart entiere dans notre province. II y a des solutions et nous tenons a les exposer a cette table rondo. Une garderies francophone pour nos petits enfants. 1. Des institutions post-secondaires de langue francaise pour nos jeunes gens. 2. through the system by ar affirmative action process to give us balanced gender mix at all levels. Until we have attained this balanced gender mix however, we need to place small group: of concerned, aware, well-trained anc technically expert women withir institutions concerned with economic development to raise issues and asll questions within the institution itself. For those of us living in the north, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines Yet most women still remain qu'ils advanced has the major responsibility for economic development policy. We are proposing a model which will change the structure and culture of Northern Development in order to ensure that women's needs are anglophones de comprendre, d'être sensible et de respecter la culture francophone mais aussi pour les francophones de comprendre, pour that we have enough women trained anc living, the framework into which we have to of us all. of democracy presupposes that we have d'identifier les elements de ressemblance WHAT IS THE SOLUTION? Clearly, to sec The quality of our day to day II ne s'agit donc pas uniquement pour les francophone libanaise, juive, haffienne, portugaise, iranienne, etc. Le defi sera donc Women and their concerns still remait marginal to the economic developmen process. Structural change is needed. Who within government is asking? * does the economic development program or project offer equivalent benefits to women and men? * will the impact of the program on the women in the development area be considered at the design, implementation and evaluation stages? * are the women involved in the decision- making, evaluation and program delivery process of the proposed economic development? * have the terms of reference of socioeconomic studies been evaluated to discover whether they were relevant to women in the communities? * should women in this particular area be considered as a target group for special programs? * what employment opportunities will be created for women in the construction, startup and operating phases? * is any action planned to enable women to enter the stream of economic life in the communities? * are job training opportunities for women being considered? * what action is to be taken to ensure that community development plans result in the integration of women into the economic and social power structures of the community? * what criteria is being used to evaluate the impact of development initiatives on the community (eg impact on women and children, safety, etc)? met. We propose a Women's Economic Status Branch. This structure would be based on other successful models, that is time limited and cost effective. we are not requesting additional resources of the Branch but rather a redeployment of existing person years and operational resources. The proposed mandate of a Women's Economic Status Branch would be: to examine, plan and recommend on all issues affecting the economic rights, economic development and socio-economic status of women in Northern Ontario. .... We feel that Northern Development and Mines has the mandate and the obligation to serve its entire northern constituency. We feel that the Ministry has an opportunity to eliminate the structural and systemic barriers to women's participation in economic development in the north and to promote the full inclusion of women in all aspects of economic development. WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES Women with Disabilities are the underclass, that is, people who are generally not involved in the wage earning market economy and they are being kept there by economic theories and practice. The disabled community experiences a class system of its own within which women with disabilities are at the bottom. Statistics show that unemployment is a fact of life for 62 percent of women with disabilities (Morrisette D. 1988). Of those working in regulated industries 66.1 percent earned less than $20,000 a year compared to 14.6 percent of men with disabilities. In these same industries at the top end of the scale 20.6 percent of the males earned over $40,000, compared to 2.7 percent of women (DAWN Canada 1989). Persons with disabilities are generally disenchanted with current employment equity initiatives. Outside certain major institutions, new employment opportunities have generally not been forthcoming. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 4 ei �In 1986, 11.1% of the total provincial population between the working ages of 15 to 64 reported some form of disability (about 691,590 people). Persons with disabilities are out of work twice as often, are concentrated in low-paying, part-time jobs, and have long periods of unemployment, compared with the rest of the population in Ontario. Many have the skills to find successful employment if given the opportunities. Despite this, they are often excluded from the labour force. There are also those who are discouraged from seeking employment. Barriers to employment include: - stereotypes and misunderstanding about different types of disabilities and capabilities of persons with disabilities; - staffing policies which do not accurately measure the potential to satisfy requirements of a given iob; - excessive delays in delivering essential job accommodation; - inaccessibility of the work site, including inadequate systems of transit for those who need it; - the lack of access to adequate training. The existence of many of these barriers has been a result of, and has contributed to the historical social isolation faced by persons with disabilities. Employability has historically been linked with types and degrees of disabilities, and individual personal characteristics. A person who has a double impairment or who is both disabled and female, Aboriginal or a member of a racial minority group, is even less likely to be employed, and is more likely to earn a lower income. Marion Boyd response think our determination to make employment equity mandatory has given rise I We agree with the government assessment that a significant factor preventing unionization in the service sector is the failure of the Labour Relations to respond to the very real impediment to organizing faced by workers. We agree that the right to organize must be equally accessible to all workers, and in particular, women, minorities and other lower-paid workers in vulnerable sectors of the economy. We believe the reform of the Labour Relations Act will be a measure of the government's commitment to a social equity agenda for the people of Ontario. We also believe that a cheap labour strategy is not an effective strategy for ensuring economic prosperity for the province. The onus should be placed upon the business community to justify why it cannot compete, if more women workers are unionized, since the weight of existing literature suggests that unionization results in greater productivity (Freeman and Meclaff). The government should stand firm on it's position that it is not acceptable for employers in Ontario to compete on the basis of cheap labour. Global competition and continental free trade will undermine existing labour standards unless the government takes immediate steps to enable the most vulnerable workers to organize, in order to protect and improve their working conditions. Unless these basic rights are effectively protected by law, it will be impossible to develop the co-operative employment relations necessary for a productive labour force and a strong economy. training in cultural and racial sensitivity. Designated courses and a culturally sensitive instructor is the only way in which programs for immigrants and refugees are going to succeed. We know what our problems are, and we must take an active part in the solution. It is a well-known fact that a person living in marginal state rather than being a fully participating individual, directly contributes to a series of health and social problems. In order to prevent these problems, we request that Ontario government look carefully at the organizations receiving additional funding for settlement services and training programs. The ministries granting the money must set guidelines and objectives for the delivery of efficient and competent services. Competence and efficiency in serving immigrants means having cross cultural and cultural specific training, language knowledge and sensitivity for cultural and racial differences. The agencies receiving money must be willing to enter into contracts with the funding ministries which will include appropriate accountability, measures to the founder. Accountability must include feedback from the people receiving the services. VIOLENCE It's been a long and painful road. Turns in the road have brought some success, such as the establishment of ten shelters in the region, and the increase in funding for Marion Boyd response I effective and competent service and their must say it's really pleasurable for us to hear your strong defence of our human relations when we're hammered from the other side and it is very fine for all of us to remember that this side of the workers is supported by the people of Ontario and it is Sexual Assault Centre services. However, true success can only be measured by the experience of women and children who are the victims and the survivors. While the stories of women and children who have managed to realize a future free from fear have provided advocates with the strength to important particularly to women to have the changes that have been proposed. The continue, we realize that we are nowhere near the end of the road we must travel. be available to go into the labour market central bargaining could accomplish, a real Women and over the next 25 years are going to be those in designated groups. At least half of those particularly as it affects workers like home to a great deal of public awareness as well as public consensus building around the issue. We know that 85% of those who will will be women and probably a good deal more. So, what we are looking at in terms of our economic renewal goals is finding a way to ensure that employment equity is a reality and that the planning process and the legislative process give rise to a plan that is going to see results and is going to be move toward a real examination of what look at the Employment Standards Act We know that they are an workers. important first step toward better equity. We know that unless those kinds of protections are there for workers some of the other social and economic changes that we want to make are going to be that much harder to achieve. monitorable as we go along so that we don't fall back over time. I would like to assure you that we all agree that this is a major priority for us, not only from the social justice IMMIGRANT AND VISIBLE MINORITY WOMEN continue to be brutalized. Our newspapers and television children continue to sensationalize stories of rape, sexual harassment, and murder of women. The pain pervades Northwestern Ontario. Locally, we are concerned over the ever rising numbers of adolescent sexual abuse survivors who have turned to the streets for safety; only to be revictimized as prostitutes, escorts, and exotic dancers. The traditional means of service has not met the needs of these young women. The one support system that did meet the needs of these individuals was "axed" in the cutbacks. point of view, but also from the economic point of view. It just makes good economic sense and we need to keep repeating that The Thunder Bay Immigrant and Visible again and again to the community when they start saying recession is not the time to put mandatory social justice programs into Women's Organization is an organization of women that come from 20 different countries. We belong to .different cultures place. and we are of different colours. We have two things in common: we are immigrants and we are women. Canada is our home 1) That the special issues of violence faced by women 16-18 years of age, the group of now and we are concerned about the services, be addressed. That an integral part of school 2) curriculum; Grades JK through Senior level high school include: gender equality, alternatives to the misuse of violence as a control tool, and non-violence dispute resolution. LABOUR Collective bargaining legislation is crucial for improving the economic situations and working conditions of women workers. Unions generally improve wages and at least improve working conditions of women workers. Unions tend to compress wage structure making it more equal. Unions provide a degree of due process in the work place that helps workers with very little personal power. Trade unions help enforce human rights, employment standards, pay and employment equity, and occupational health and safety legislation. Presently men benefit more from unions than women as they are more likely to be unionized. services being offered for immigrant women and their families. The Ontario Government has been very generous in providing money to agencies that specialize in giving services to immigrants and refugees, but has failed to follow up and verify the effectiveness and quality of the services being delivered. We urge you to investigate how this money is being spent and how much of it really newly arrived enhances the lives of Please look immigrants and refugees. closely at the qualifications of the service providers and their languages that are proficiency in the needed to deliver We challenge you to respond to the recommendations from the 300 participants of the Women Uniting for Change conference. women who fall through the cracks of That teachers make regular use of community resource groups to deal with 3) specialized issues of conflict resolution. 4) That literature in schools be monitored to ensure that ethnic women, minority groups, aboriginal people and women with disabilities are not presented in a negative light. continued pg 14 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISIONNorthern PDFCompressor Woman Pagel �SOJOURNER'S TRUTH & other stories by Lee Maracle Press Gang Publishers, 1990. BOOK REVIEW Lee Maracle brings humour to the truth and Two weeks later... eviewed by Alice Sabourin reinforces the strength of women to go Too tired to write, too tense to sleep and a beyond the disappointment and recognize When one is exposed to rugged truth there thousand trains of things to accomplish or so the beauty and comfort of what is truly can be an instant need to run from any it seems. My daughter cried today as her teeth itch and her tummy gets empty, her important. In this case, she clearly makes choices that reflect human nature: dad couldn't be there so she endured a meeting that had little to offer her. felt motherhood first, everything else comes somewhere after that. And then there is the part of the "other woman". Do I turn on him or her or am I past that as well? Once you begin a change you can go back but the awareness is so loud that it screams out at you reminding you of the price of violence and the warning of something that can't be stopped. "Whose political here anyways?" commonality and intellectually excusing the anger as being a sense of exploitation of facts all being thrown together creating some distortion that is larger than life. It wasn't by I numb, and too tired to get really mad at the mistake that I read "Dear Daddy" first. The thoughts and reflections of a daughter to her estranged father, struggling through the mystery of his absence and her mother's pain. How could I deny this truth when my own child hadn't met her father until months of her life had past? To embrace the sense of outrage would allow humanness room to door being left open and someone else's dishes left for me to do. I wanted to numb it all out until read "Whose political here feel the words spoken, to be open and propositioned by men in malls and of all degrading things to try to do to a young recognize the characters for who they are. Thus, with that in mind, I went on to read "Bertha". I have met Bertha before in another place and time and given the understanding Lee Maracle has as she tells the story about this woman's life, I have a even deeper sense of love and acceptance for my aunties, I anyways?" This is part of my story. Except that my boyfriend isn't in jail...yet. His friends don't grab at my breasts but I am continually being mother with a child. Is it my large breasts or are these men blinded by their male genitalia enough not to see my eyes? I have lived. have survived. I am past needing the "generosity" of a man only to be left wanting to wash one's souls to escape the shame of the exchange. I goes beyond light humourous puns on human relationships or it can be just that. But when a grandmother visits her at days end, tears came into my eyes. My grandmother visits me in my dreams, she too laughs, smiles, just to acknowledge me, the struggle and to bring strength to my bones. That is the politics of it, nobody else will see it or recognize it but grandmother knows, she sees and listens and will always be there. grandmothers and elders. Grateful to know that many of these women have risen up In closing, the remaining "stories" go on to tell the truth. I took my time to read each one, to contemplate the meaning and to hear the wisdom. This was an affirming experience and has been important to me because when one tells the truth , another is taught to do the same. from the ground to reach the sun and reclaim their roles as teachers and leaders. Bertha is real. Her story is real. ;Kith that in mina, and my five month old daughter sleeping contentedly beside me, I am left quiet with respect for the gift of sobriety she will see in my eyes and for the :eremonies she will be part of. Meegwetch. as a child, I watched my mother cry silent tears for Bertha as she lay in the street, as a young woman I turned my head to hide and today, as life has taught me to stand tall and greet the world without fear, I look beyond Alice Riives-Sabourin is a traditional-contemporary Ojibway woman who enjoys people, music and writing. the loss and see the hope for all of my sisters who are breathing life back from the past into the future, for me, for my daughter, for all of us. CABINET FORUM continued 5) That police be educated in the issue of the "abuse of power" within their own system and society. 6) That you support advocacy strategies aimed at the Federal government to remove Section 43 of the Criminal Code. That an aggressive charging policy for woman assault be applied consistently and without prejudice. 7) That the judicial system be more accessible to victims of abuse regarding 8) restraining orders and peace bonds. CHILD CARE The most significant child care issue in The province must directly fund the cost of child care programs, and develop a fairer system of determining parent contributions. Deterioration of accessibility is also evident. Despite new centres being opened, expansion has not kept pace with the increased needs of families for child care. The development of a stable system of child As natural resources are depleted, the Municipalities would react negatively to being mandated to increase services. Across Northwestern Ontario municipal support for economy of Northwestern Ontario is radically changing. It is becoming the norm that both parents must work. We know that even more women will join the paid labour force as the economy shifts from resource industries to alternative work (such as the service subsidized parents and the few higher- Those of us who live and work in Northwestern Ontario have long recognized segment of the population is denied high quality child care services because of cost. We call on the government to totally review child care funding, and within a new funding system that accepts child care as a public right, ensure that funding mechanisms are provided to recognize northern realities. The province must mandate equitable levels of child care service across the province. Northwestern Ontario is affordability. Many families cannot afford the present cost of child care. Each fee increase results in families withdrawing from regulated, licenced programs. Child care centres in small communities cannot survive with only income families that can afford high fees. We find it unacceptable that a significant r) industry).Child care services are an important investment in the revitalization of the economy in Northwestern Ontario. that the costs of providing services in the north are greater than in the more populated care will never be achieved if child care remains a discretionary service. child care is inconsistent and uncertain. Consumers of child care are seldom found in decision-making positions within municipal government. The present Northwestern Ontario reality is that few municipalities are planning expansion of service in 1992, and some are considering a decrease. Equity can best be achieved by the provincial government assuming the responsibility fir the financial administration for child care services across Ontario. areas of southern Ontario. PDFNorthern compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Woman Page 14 �she has a room she can't stand for long too little of her life fits in there... so she's out and about early in the morning walking with her coffee she likes to have her morning coffee in the morning sun if she can and the sun doesn't shine into her grey little basement room her image hurts your imagination she's trying to stay sane in ways that you've never had to in an insane world that looks at her as a dirty derelict even though she's contributed something to someone all her life disturbing the way things happen to sway the balance of justice unfair how money changes everything uncomfortable how we play a part in the scheme of things she has a room but she lives her life out on the street when the rest of humanity allows her unforgivable when we rebel and are condemned to hell on earth just because we such space THE GRASS lovette Marchessault that to be free means more than not making decisions... revisions reveal an effort to rearrange the meaning of being and that always looks good but then, what have looks got to do with anything? yes, it looks like another storm this talk of reform unending the way in which we will resist forever the pressures to conform Arja Lane 1992 Arja Lane 1992 norm MOTHER OF yes, I agree who to please, who to squeeze into conformity without making it look like a deformity? while making it look like something to do with democracy making it fit into molds made by conformists don't fit the Arja Lane April 1992 yes its true I have the blues the sun got stuck behind the clouds and the rest is what the fuck as the air turns sour with grey rays and electronic garbage toxic emissions with no permissions to be out and about destroying every kind of life OLE* lone fur r-N VaiDN IA.r4 \ -VID Wo i ISH471Ep5 I 4ruments Tr3rsited IVOJV M. Klein BOOKS for summer reading L By Margaret Phillips readers say is the best book since the MISTS OF AVALON (Marion Zimmer Bradley). "Ever wonder how our world With warm, lazy summer days (hopefully) fast approaching many readers will look would look to a woman warrior time-traveller forward to from the prehistoric, prepatriarchal past?" leisurely enjoying the latest books. Summer is FICTION time, so I've concentrated on novels, short stories and READ AMAZON. to provide titles they'd recommend to other readers and these recommendations are included; then you'll hear about old Cameron, mysteries, but also have added a few biographies. I've asked a number of women favourites as well as new books *NOVELS* I'm also looking forward to reading Jamaica Kincaid's newest book LUCY. Antigua- born, Kincaid is author of the stunning A SMALL PLACE as well as two previous novels ANNIE JOHN and AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RIVER and many short stories. Readers need no introduction to Anne want to tell you that but Cameron's latest novel KICK THE CAN is I rivalling THE JOURNEY as my favourite of her many wonderful books. TALES OF THE CAIRDS AND ESCAPE FROM BEULAH are also recent publications, along with several new children's books. We hear that Anne has no less than three new books in the Highlighting the season there is: redefined." Happy to find a new book by Dorothy Bryant, author of the amazing KIN OF ATA, ELLA PRICE'S JOURNAL and others. This new novel THE TEST is described as "comic and sad, agonizing and illuminating, infuriating and hilarious, this ordinary day in the lives of ordinary people becomes a test of endurance, of reality, of love". works, and eagerly await their publication. ITSUKA by Joy Kogawa: Naomi Nakane, who we first met in OBASAN, is now an adult and becomes involved in the Japanese-Canadian fight for redress. "Profoundly political, exquisitely intimate, ITSUKA reverberates with longing, with appalling betrayals, and finally with tremendous hope." Tucked aside for summer reading is JAZZ by Toni Morrison. Reviewer Marilyn Powell AMAZON by Barbara G. Walker. Walker, who is famous for her writing on women's spirituality (Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, Women's Rituals. etc.) now has this exciting novel, which some in the closet of a house. The struggle for says of JAZZ, "nothing and no one is ordinary, and perceptions shift as she reinvents the world. Her message is carried on the wind, pushes up from the ground, is located in a tree, hidden in a cave, or even freedom is on the frontier of the word, where it can be made to express radical combinations, where what it means to be human and black can be recreated and PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Wonian Page 'if �PROGRESS OF LOVE by Alice Munro THEME FOR DIVERSE INSTRUMENTS by Jane Rule WHEN I'M AN OLD WOMAN I SHALL WEAR PURPLE ed. by Sandra Mane WOMEN, KIDS AND HUCKLEBERRY WINE by Anne Cameron READERS' RECOMMENDATIONS ABRA by Joan Barfoot. THE BOOK OF EVE by Constance Beresford-Howe BORDERLINE by Janette Turner Hospital BURGER'S DAUGHTER by Nadine Gordimer THE GOLDEN NOTEBOOK by Doris Lessing IN SEARCH OF APRIL RAINTREE by Beatrice Culleton MEMORY BOARD by Jane Rule PATIENCE AND SARAH by Isabel Miller THE RADIANT WAY *RECENT CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS* by Margaret Drabble SWANN: A MYSTERY by Carol Shields TAXI by Helen Potrebenko WOMAN AT POINT ZERO by Newel el Saadawi *RECENT CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS* THE MISSING CHILD by Sandra Birdsell UPSTREAM by Sharon Butala ZERO AVENUE by Leona Gom HEARTS OF FLAME by Katherine Govier DISAPPEARING MOON CAFE by Sky Lee THE ILLUMINATION OF ALICE MALLORY by Maureen Moore LOOKING FOR LIVINGSTONE: An Odessey of Silence by Marlene -Nourbese Philip HANNAH B. by Veronica Ross THE REPUBLIC OF LOVE by Carol Shields FOX by Margaret Sweatman CHANGING HEAVEN by Jane Urquhart provide a similar impact, FEVER may rival DANCE OF THE HAPPY SHADES (Alice I my favourite short story haven't yet read ISOBARS by Janette Turner Hospital, but my friend Donna (who is an avid reader) raves about it. The promo states "weaving the stories together, amid darkness and light, are themes of memory, the persistent nature of time, and the various guises of damage. In ISOBARS, Hospital dissolves the fixed distinction between past and present, time and place and confirms herself as one of the foremost stylists in contemporary fiction." The paperback edition of Margaret Atwood's WILDERNESS TIPS won't be out until fall, so you may want to indulge yourself with the hardcover copy of Atwood's most recently published spectacular stories. READERS' RECOMMENDATIONS THE BAR STORIES by Nisa Donnelly LESBIAN LOVE STORIES by Irene Zahava PEOPLE YOU'D TRUST YOUR LIFE TO by Bronwen Wallace pictures alone are worth the cost. Souhami describes her book as the story of the relationship between Gertrude and Alice - a devoted marriage, funny, gentle, eventful, orderly, domestic, intimate and happy. I was beguiled by the wry fact that this marriage, of the sort that eludes so many Sue Grafton has worked her way up the alphabet to I IS FOR INNOCENT (still in If you were fortunate enough to view the NFB's magnificent Company of Strangers hardcover). H IS FOR HOMICIDE is now in paperback. If you haven't yet become acquainted with Kinsey Millhone - you may want to start back at A IS FOR ALIBI, B IS FOR My favourite mystery writers are L.R. Wright and Sara Paretsky. Wright who lives in BC set her mysteries in the Sunshine Coast. The most recent paperback publication A CHILL RAIN IN JANUARY is a stunning reading. I Heading the list in this category is GERTRUDE AND ALICE by Diana Souhami. Although a pricey hardcover ($35), the *MYSTERIES* Flotow) and THE SUSPECT are also well worth I've just begun Sharon Butala's FEVER. After am reading the first three stories, speechless. If the remaining thirteen stories *BIOGRAPHIES/MEMOIRS* heroes and heroines, should be achieved by two odd-looking, strong-minded women who learned the wisdom of being true to themselves". novel; and her earlier SLEEP WHILE I SING *SHORT STORIES* Munro) as collection. FOOD AND SPIRITS by Beth Brant BRIGHT'S CROSSING by Anne Cameron TIDE LINES ed. by Lee Fleming OTHER AND DRYLAND TOURIST STORIES by Dianne Maguire SOJOURNER'S TRUTH by Lee Maracle CATHERINE, CATHERINE by Ingrid MacDonald FASCINATION AND OTHER BAR STORIES by Jackie Manthorne REMEMBERING G AND OTHER STORIES by Makeda Silvera THE WILD BLUE YONDER by Audrey Thomas THE MAN WHO PAINTED STALIN by France Theoret (translated by Luise von You'll love Sara Paretsky's feisty V.I. WARSHAWSKI the best of the new breed of V.I. Warshawski female detectives." mysteries include BLOOD SHOT, BURN MARKS, DEADLOCK, INDEMNITY ONLY amongst others. Caitlin Reece, Kate Delafield, Carol Ashton are just a few among the growing number of lesbian crime solvers. Lauren Wright Douglas (the Caitlin Reece ALWAYS ANONYMOUS BEAST, THE DAUGHTERS OF ARTEMIS and NINTH LIFE. mysteries) gives us THE Katherine Forrest is the most widely read contemporary lesbian novelist". Her Kate you will want to read Mary Meigs' memoir IN THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS. "Interwoven with Meigs' reflections on time, aging, and the phenomenon of film, are her portraits of each cast member on and off camera. The eight women are strangers who first become company, then friends." Lawrencia (Laurie) Bembenek tells her own story in WOMAN ON TRIAL. It will make you weep. As I read Bembenek's story my admiration for this young woman's courage grows, as does my outrage for the injustice she has endured for the past ten years. This is an important story to hear. READER'S RECOMMENDATIONS BY HEART: ELIZABETH SMART - A LIFE by Rosemary Sullivan TURNING THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN by Lois Wilson MY PLACE: THE AUSTRALIAN ROOTS by Sally Morgan ELSA: I COME WITH MY SONGS The Autobiography of Elsa Gidlow A HUMMING UNDER MY FEET A Book of Travail by Barbara Deming IN MY MOTHER'S HOUSE: A DAUGHTER'S STORY by Kim Chernin. *RECENT CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS* Delafield mysteries include AMATEUR CITY, THE BEVERLY MALIBU, MURDER AT NIGHTWOOD BAR, and MURDER BY NO BURDEN TO CARRY: Narrative of Black Working Women in Ontario 1920- TRADITION. 1950. Dionne Brand Australian writer Claire McNab authors the Detective Inspector Carol Ashton mysteries, which include COP OUT, DEATH DOWN UNDER, FATAL REUNION, LESSONS IN NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Diaries and Letters of Nova Scotia Women 1771- MURDER. Margaret Conrad, Toni Laidlaw and Donna Smythe BOBBI LEE: INDIAN REBEL by Lee Maracle Rita Mae Brown (and Sneaky Pie Brown) enters the mystery field with WISH YOU WERE HERE. This is a book for mystery STONEY CREEK WOMAN: The Story of Mary John as told to Bridget Moran LIKE A CHILD OF THE EARTH, MOTHER OF THE GRASS and WHITE PEBBLES IN fans and cat lovers. We understand Sneaky Pie has another book coming soon. THE DARK FORMS Jovette Marchessault ??????????? NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL 1938. HAPPY READING EVERYONE PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Paae 16 �Semi Class MN limp latrines ft. 507 AIL TO: RETURN TO: THE NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL P.O. B00/144 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO P7C 4V5 Return Postage Guaranteed IS THERE AN ASTERISK ON YOUR. ABEL?? PLEASE maw YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Don't broK to wow pur SUBSCRIPTION NAME ADDRESS POSTAL CODE Individual $8.00 proclw:"1 institutional $16.00 JANE. NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder Bay Ontario P7C 4Y5 SA oPRtel'sAsle4.\.0 svs NAc40 oisk"'"Qcr LIP%"- uN - 304"slot, stricv c"cle ***************************************************************** 1\19RTHERW 9MAN 17URAML. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 14 No 2 Description An account of the resource Vol. 14, No. 2 (June 1992) Title: Northern Woman Journal Languages: English, French Topics include: Anti-choice terrorism Pandora, Halifax Women’s studies Women & poverty Northern Lights Womyn’s Music Festival Gay & lesbian families Provincial cabinet forum on NWO women’s issues Women’s votes Women’s health Northwestern Ontario Women’s Decade Council Long term care Ontario Native Women’s Association Gaps in programs & services for Native women Aboriginal women leadership Women in trades & technology Ontario Advisory Council on Women’s Issues Economic, social, and legal equality for women Women’s healing MediaWatch Women reporters underrepresented Book published by Dr. Kit Minor Indigenous art Indigenous weaving Indigenous women identities Women’s economic status branch Women & economic development Violence against women Thunder Bay Immigrant and Visible Minority Women group Feminist book review of Sojourner’s Truth & Other Stories by Lee Maracle Poetry Feminist book list Authors/contributors: Shelley Wark-Martyn Ontario Women’s Directorate Michele Proulx Alice Olsen Williams Alice Sabourin Arja Lane Margaret Phillips Rae Ann Honey Margaret Johnston Jane Saunders Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-06 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English French https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/16/2827/1992_Vol_14_No_3.pdf b1fde2a22413afb309492af2cfb7463e PDF Text Text Northern Woman Journal COMPLIMENT All 1 PLEASE SUBSCRIBE Volume 14, Number 3, October 1992 THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO $2.00 03 O O 110 7 72006 14003 4 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �WENDO EDITORIAL History Women's is October being are we and month the celebrate encouraged to rich history of Canadian women. It is valuable to recognize the struggles and achievements of Canadian women pioneers, and to make visible the reality of women's contributions to the fabric of Canadian society. (The referendum. 26th another Charlottetown accord is danger signal to Canadian women pgs. 3 and 4) - see articles Analysis of the impact of the new "child benefit" legislation Political has been meagre. muted. been has opposition (Perhaps because legislation However, it is more than ironic that at the same time that the federal government purports to honour and acknowledge Canadian women's history, it is also enacting legislation that will deprive some half a million Canadian mothers of their only Legislation source of income. that passed been just has abolishes the family allowance program. Modest though it was, the family allowance program did give recognition to the important role of mothering, and was the corner-stone of humane Canadian social policy for the past half-century. For many Canadian women the family allowance means the difference between dignity and despair. In issue"?) of lack this The death the "women's the longer run, public protest will encourage the Conservative government to charge ahead with its assault on family allowance program has largely been obscured as the media's the with is preoccupation accord/discord and the October all universal programs. assaulted at some time in her life. EN/0 woman is vulnerable regardless of a Men attack women to dominate and hi them, not for sexual gratification. M who rape seek a victim to yield to th desire to control; a refusal to submit c deter an attacker. A powerful respor can prevent an assault. Through Wendo women have be discovering their power. Wendo is a foi of self defense designed especially I women. Derived from the Japanese, "W( refers to women and "Do" refers to t way or the path. Wendo is taut exclusively by women for women. women's celebrating learn must we history month and be from our foremothers, our strengthened to continue So in feminist work in a climate of repressiveness increasing We must also towards women. insist that Women's History the only not honour month exceptional the achievers, women, the leaders (important as their contributions are) but must celebrations our also validate all women' s the honour and invisible work of mothers and experience, of a is this One in four women will be sexua caregivers. Wendo was developed from a variety martial arts and street fighting techniqu by the Paige family of Toronto during t early 1970's. It is being revised a updated continuously and it includes be pyschological' and physical exercises well as special breathing. Wendo has be taught to women of all ages and abilities both in Canada and abroad. Wendo combines the politics of s, defence with the skills necessary to fe off a determined attacker. Wen emphasizes the constraints of the soc conditioning of women to be passive; recognizes that most women have to lea to be assertive. Wendo teaches Awareness Avoidance a. afiTiFOTE'y omen COVER: comprised of four basic elemen Surprise, Smoothness, Circularity and Se by Donna Phoenix Trust. Surprise refers to speaking loudly, and attracting attention to harasser/ attacker. Smoothness refers SEE WOMEN'S HISTORY QUIZ, page 16 ANSWERS 1. d - Charlotte Whitton. She became Canada's first woman mayor when she was elected mayor of Ottawa in 1951. 2. a - Jeanne Sauve became Canada's first woman Governor General May 14, 1984. 3. a - In more sexist times, Saskatoon Lily or Ethel Catherwood, "the world's champion girl high-jumper", was rated the most beautiful athlete at the 1928 Olympics. 12. c - Elsie Gregory MacGill was the first woman to graduate from aeronautical engineering in the world and the first woman member elected to the Engineering Institute of Canada. As an engineer for Fairchild Aircraft Limited, she and her staff of 4500 designed and produced more than 100 HURRICANE aircraft per month in 1940. 13. b - Mary Ann Shadd Cary was a journalist and human rights advocate. At the age of 60, she was the first female law student to attend Howard University in Alabama. 14. b - Nellie McClung was a novelist, journalist, suffrage and temperance worker, who fought tirelessly for women's rights in Canada. vote. 15. c - Bertha Wilson's appointment in 1982 ended 107 years of all-male membership on the Supreme Court of Canada. 5. d - In 1928, Anna Dexter became Canada's first woman radio broadcaster. 16. c - Pauline McGibbon was Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario from 1974-1980. 6. a - After a lengthy legal and political battle, the British Privy Council declared women to be considered "persons" under the law, thus enabling them to be considered for appointment to the Senate. 17. b - It wasn't until 1952 in the province of Ontario, that a law finally recognized women's right to be paid the same wage as men for the same work. 7. b - Dr. Emily Howard Stowe was finally registered as a member of the Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario on July 16, 1880. She had originally set up practice in 1867 after graduating from medical school in New York, but was denied a licence in Canada until 1880. 18. b - Mary Two-Axe Early, a full-blooded Mohawk, was almost single-handedly responsible for the restoration of native rights to Indian women in Canada who had been disenfranchised through marriage to non-natives. In 1985, her years of work paid off - Bill C-31 amended the Indian Act, and Mary Two-Axe Early was the first native woman to be re-enfranchised. 4. b - On January 29, 1916, Manitoba women won the 8. c - The Edmonton Grads, an amateur women's basketball team, was formed in 1915 and disbanded in 1940. Canadian, American, and World champions, their records are unrivalled by any team in any other sport. 9. d - Emily Johnson was a world renowned poet. Two of her better known works were "The Song My Paddle Sings" and ''Ojistoh". 10. c - Cairine MacKay Wilson was appointed to the Senate on February 15, 1930. 11. c - Molly Brant was a diplomat, negotiator, cultivator of crops and an expert in the medicinal qualities of herbs. 19. c - Agnes Campbell Macphail was elected to the House of Commons from Grey County, Ontario in 1921. She went to Ottawa as Canada's first woman member of Parliament. 20. c - Therese Casgrain led the struggle for women's suffrage in Quebec (obtained in 1940) as president of La Ligue des droits de la femme. Active in politics, she was also a dedicated pacificist, as exhibited by her 1961 founding of the Montreal branch of the Voice of Women, an international peace movement. She fought for the rights of married women, and in 1965 was elected honorary president of La Federation des femmes du Quebec, devoted to the promotion of women's rights. doing one thing after another, or followi through a course of action, for example; getting out of a hold, 2. hitting and running. Circularity refers to the use ones's strength in a circle to g: momentum. Self-Trust refers to believi in what you feel and putting 100% each thing you do. Wendo recognizes that there are no h; and fast rules. It teaches women to what works in a given situation, to t; action to allow escape. Wendo empow women, it nurtures their self confide] and helps them to take control situations in which they might others come to harm. Unlike traditional martial arts, Wend not expensive and it takes relatively li time to learn. The basic course is fift, hours in length; the lower age limi usually twelve years, there is no upper limit. Physically challenged women encouraged to take Wendo. The Parks and Recreation Departu will be sponsoring a Wendo course in near future. If you are interested finding out more about taking a We course call Sheila Lehmberg at 625-2, PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 2 ii �N.A.C. SAYS NO! by JOCELYN J. PAQUE 1 1E of gender equality for aboriginal women in the text and NWAC and the National Metis Women of Canada believe that ITS A BAD DEAL! IS IT MEECH LAKE OR MEMOREX? No, it's the Charlottetown Accord. The Prime Minister and the First Ministers once again excluded 52% of the population from the process. In the early stages women were consulted with, however when it came time to sit down and hammer out a deal we were nowhere in sight. In December 1991 the National Action Committee on the Status of Women met in consultation with the First Ministers. In good faith we shared the views and concerns of women's groups across the country. Now we ask, once again, how can a process that excluded 52% of the population representing a diverse range of beliefs, experiences, ... produce a constitutional deal that embodies this diversity. In other words if the process is flawed the end result is flawed. self-government agreement. NAC SAYS YES TO: B) MARGINALIZATION OF DISABLED, LESBIANS & GAYS. * A Canada in which the rights of women and minorities are promoted and in which social programs can promote economic and social equality. The Canada Clause, one of the most significant elements of the new agreement, has received little public debate. It is NAC's view that the Canada Clause establishes a hierarchy of rights that will undermine Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. While the Supremacy of Parliament and the equality of the provinces are enshrined as fundamental characteristics of Canada, the Charter is not. The Canada Clause will be used to interpret the Constitution including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This interpretive function means that its wording is crucial. We believe the absence of people with disabilities, and lesbians and gays within marginalizes these groups. Canadians are being asked to vote on a CONSTITUTIONAL DEAL their rights will be threatened under this the identified groups in the test further THE SITUATION NAC SAYS NO TO THIS C) DEVOLUTION OF POWERS AND THE THREAT TO SOCIAL * A Canada in which Aboriginal women, the women of Quebec -- all women -participate equally in democratic political institutions. * A Canada in which there is recognition of the inherent right of self-government for aboriginal people, including protection of the rights of Aboriginal women. * A Canada in which the right of selfdetermination for Quebec is guaranteed. This means the right of the people of Quebec to choose freely their path of political and economic development, without threat of coercion or force. A Canada in which the federal government has the constitutional authority to initiate national published in the newspaper the weekend of September 20, 1992. It is important to Like the Meech Lake Agreement, this note that this document identified as deal makes future shared-cost programs, FINAL TEXT is far from being finalized. like a national system of child care, a Jocelyn Paquette is the Northern Ontario will be virtualrepresentative impossibility. toProvinces thhe National Action In fact the legal wording may not be inequality. the text they could not fully realize the Status of Women. shared-cost able Committee to opt outonofthenew programs with compensation, resulting in a patchwork of programs across the country. consequences it may have Country's and their future. D) GENDER EQUALITY available until after October 26th referendum. So even if people bought the paper, read the document, and understood for the The Native Women's Association of Canada states that Canadians "are being asked to judge a national unity deal that is still being changed..." also shocking that Canadians are going to be asked to vote on whether to accept this or not before they have seen "It's the (final) text and while that text is still being substantially changed."(G&M Sept. 19, 92) Anne Bayefsky, lawyer for NWAC said. THE ISSUES A) ABORIGINAL WOMEN'S RIGHTS Judy aRebick system of NAC has argued for President proportional representation to National Actiondesigned Committee guaranteee gender equality and minority on the Status of Women This position was representation. on constitutional endorsed by the Speaking conferences, the Beaudoin-Dobbie Report, -The Accord the and was onCharlottetown the table throughout (Constitution) meetings of ministers multi-lateral -The Future of Child Care responsible for the constitution. When the First Ministers got into October the act in23, August, Friday, 1992 with proportional representation 7:30 p.m. Lakehead guarantees for women andUniversity minorities Nursing Building-SN1015 vanished from the constitutional table. The First Ministers felt no obligation to Co-Sponsored by: the consensus thatUniversity has emerged from the Lakehead constitutional conferences. -Gender Issues Centre -Student Union Aboriginal women, with the exception of the Inuit, have been excluded from these negotiations from the outset. Despite a Supreme Court decision stating that the exclusion of the Native Women's Association of Canada from the constitutional negotiations was discriminatory, the Prime Minister refused Fair representation -Political Studiesfor women and Northwestern Women'sof minorities is now up Ontario to the discretion Decade Council While some provincial governments. provinces have promised gender equity, each government can decide how its senators can be elected or chosen. There are no guarantees of representation for women and minorities. to invite them to the last meeting or to future meetings. There is not guarantee PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman - Page 3 �ABORIGINAL WOMEN AND THE CONSTITUTIONAL DEBATES ASSOCIATION OF CANADA insensitive federal government, it is also against the Aboriginal male establishment created under the Indian Act. Some legal Reprinted with permission from CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES Volume 12, Number 3 writers argue that it was the federal government alone, and not Aboriginal by THE NATIVE WOMEN'S Aboriginal women have been discriminated against on the basis of sex by governments of Canada for over 100 years. Aboriginal women's struggle to end the sexual discrimination began after the enactment of the Canadian Bill of Rights, governments, which discriminated against women. In fact, the Aboriginal male governments and organizations were part of the wall of resistance encountered by Aboriginal women in their struggle to end discrimination and they continue to ignore women's concerns and their rights. and continues despite, the advent of section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Sexual discrimination against Aboriginal women did not end in 1985 with the Rights and Freedoms. With amendments to the Indian Act, Aboriginal women were among the first women to benefit legislatively from the Charter. Despite passage of Bill C-31. While this Bill repealed the discriminatory 'marry-out' provision in the Indian Act, residual this, Aboriginal women still have not achieved sexual equality. The struggle continues, and has expanded today to grandmothers and great-grandmothers lost their status by marrying non-Indians. Since Bill C-31, more than 70,000 women, discrimination remains for those whose When of women are relegated to living in citie continuing discrimination. instead of among their own people, that It is a denial discrimination. fundamental rights guaranteed to us i international Canada. instruments signed lt It is our right as women to have a voice i deciding upon the definition of Aborigin; government powers. Governments cann( simply choose to recognize the patriarch; forms of government which now exist i our communities. The band councils an the Chiefs who reside over our lives ar not our traditional forms of governmen National, regional and band groups ar not nations; and do not reflect nationhood perspective. The Chiefs have taken it upon themselve to decide that they will be the fin; a recognition of Aboriginal women's rights to represent ourselves in the ongoing constitutional discussions. men, girls and boys have been added to the federal Indian registry and band lists. rectifiers of the Aboriginal package But of these, only a few have been government does not mean recognizin welcomed back into their communities. History of Sexual Discrimination Aboriginal women want to live within their communities, but the women are and blessing the patriarchy created in ou communities by a foreign government. T Aboriginal women, this would mean chat in our communities. We do not want thi; From the,introduction of the Indian Act excluded because there is no land, and no we want the equality to which we ar in,-.15-deral law in housing. Abori inal women have been shut out ftbm the band governments do not wish to bear entitled as women. involve 1869, Aboriginal women who married non-Indians were stripped of their legal rights, and their Indian status, banished from their communities, and barred from their families. While the Indian Act intruded on all aspects of Aboriginal life in Canada, Aboriginal women were most harshly restricted by the law. Not only did the Indian Act concern itself with whom an Indian woman married, it also allowed other Aboriginal community members to protest the paternity of any Aboriginal child suspected of having a white, or other This is still non-Aboriginal father. practised today in our communities. Such a child could be removed from the Indian registry and would not be allowed to be an Indian. This was in contrast to the treatment of men, as all offspring of Aboriginal men - legitimate or illegitimate - gained Indian status and a right to band membership. The Indian Act also imposed a patriarchal system and patriarchal laws which favoured men, giving them the right to confer status and band membership, and at one time allowed only men the right to vote in band elections. By 1971, this patriarchal system was so ingrained within our communities, that "patriarchy" was seen as a "traditional trait." Even the memory of our matriarchal forms of government, and our matrilineal forms of descent were forgotten or Negotiating a right to sel .Arsimikossom Aboriginal women live in the slums. Some Aboriginal women have said no t self-government. Some of our women d not want more power, money and contr.( in the hands of men in our communities It is asking a great deal to expect us, a; women, to have confidence in the men in Aboriginal children prostitute themselves Our Aboriginal in Canadian cities. power in our communities. We do not want the creation of Aboriginal the costs of programs and services to which the women Aboriginals. are entitled as women, young people and children are killing themselves with drug and alcohol abuse on Indian lands and in Canadian cities. governments with white powers and white philosophies in our communities. We dc not want the western hierarchal power structure which has been forced upon us. We do not want the Chieftain overlord which have been created by the Indiar The Constitutional Debates Act. Aboriginal women must be part and defining self-government and without our participation in the Constitutional discrimination. without our involvement in negotiating discussions. So far, Aboriginal men and male organizations have not represented our interest, and they are not taking the initiative to ensure that we are given a place at the table to do what they cannot. Aboriginal women want to take their rightful place at the constitutional table. We are a "distinct and insular" minority belonging to another culture from which we have been separated. Our case is no different from that of Sandra Lovelace who successfully argued that she had suffered discrimination because she was separated from her Maliseet culture, The ongoing legal and political struggle by Maliseet language, and from her people. We want to reiterate that the majority of women we represent also suffer under this PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 4 01 the constitutional negotiation process at all stages so that we can participate in the definition of the structures and powers of our government, and end the This tragic situation will not change unacknowledged. Aboriginal women is not only against an rights. �One of the major problems that currently exists is that the majority of First Nations As elsewhere in Canada, the law of citizens living off reserve are woman. Many of these women have been reinstated under changes to the Indian Act, but have not been welcomed back privacy generally protects homelife from close scrutiny by the State. Often that means women and children are subject to physical, psychological and sexual abuse within the home, including wife battering, incest and other crimes which usually go undetected and unpunished by the State. By their nature, these crimes are violations of a victim's section 7 rights to life, liberty and security of the person. into their communities. It is these women who are particulary excluded from the process as it currently exists. Indeed, it is often the Chiefs and councillors who supposedly represent them within the national Aboriginal organizations who are refusing to allow these women to return to their communities. This means that these women cannot get directly involved in any discussions on the reserves and do not even have a right to vote in elections on the reserves. They therefore have no direct or even indirect input in discussions whether on a national or local basis. Often, their only chance to be heard is through their provincial or national Aboriginal women's associations. But, the federal government has not funded or considered the women's associations as being at the same level as other Aboriginal (male) associations. As a result, the women's associations are being kept at the fringes of the process. This could lead to a situation in which reinstated women and others living off reserve are almost completely excluded from the process which will have a profound impact On their lives and their rights. There are also many important issues -affecting Native wometriMnrot. We are living in chaos in our We have a communities. disproportionately high rate of child sexual abuse and incest. We have wife battering, gang rapes, suicides, and substance abuse as elements of our daily lives. The development of programs, services, and policies for handling domestic violence has been placed in the hands of men, and this has not resulted in a reduction in this kind of violence. Another issue specific to women on reserves is the need for family law and matrimonial property laws to be strengthened to provide substantive equality rights reserves. to women living on Our Aboriginal leadership does not favour the application of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to self-government. That position has not changed since 1982, when the Assembly of First nations stated the following to the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs: As Indian people we cannot afford to have individual rights override collective rights...The Canadian Charter is in conflict with our philosophy and culture. is pas laws which do not respect these rights. The Charter is an individual rights based document recognizing and guaranteeing fundamental human rights to Canadians. Fundamental rights and freedoms are also outlined in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. These international instruments of law celebrate the individual "nature of fundamental rights and freedoms. These are the legal, political and constitutional rights which attach to widely held that the Charter is in conflict with our Aboriginal notions of sovereignty, and further that the rights of Aboriginal citizens within their communities must be determined at the community level. While there are many groups who would like to see their Charter rights strengthened in this current round of Constitutional debates, as Aboriginal women, we are the only ones who actually risk the total loss of our Charter rights. This is not acceptable. Conclusion human beings because they are human beings. The Native Women's Association of Canada supports individual rights. Aboriginal women are human beings whose rights cannot be denied or removed at the whim of any government. These views are in conflict with many Aboriginal leaders and legal theoreticians who advocate Canada's recognition of sovereignty, self-government and collective ts. It ma e origina ea ers ip t at t e 'collective' comes first, and that it will decide the rights of individuals. As Aboriginal women, we can look at nations around the world which have placed collective and cultural rights ahead of women's sexual equality rights. Some nations have found sexual equality interferes with tradition, custom and history. Sexual equality rights have been guaranteed to women around the world. But, like Canada's Charter, the United Nations has allowed nations to "opt out" of these international instruments. This is why the application of the Charter Aboriginal Women and the Charter The opinion We do not want to sanction the loss of these rights by allowing governments to should not be left to Governments. The federal government has mistreated us as women for over 100 years. If there is a legacy we will leave for women in the future, it is to ensure women's enjoyment of all the rights granted to us by the United Nations. We want our First Nations to act within the spirit and intent of the United Nations, and not do as so many nations have done before them...opt out of sexual equality rights. If the Charter does apply to Aboriginal governments, there is great concern that they will be given section 33 rights which grant a government the power to intentionally violate the rights protected by sections 2,7 and 15 of the Charter. The override powers in section 33 should not After 400 years of colonization, Aboriginal communities, Aboriginal families, and Aboriginal structures are devastated, and change of the systems must occur. But, there will not be self-government in our communities without the support of Aboriginal women. Our male Aboriginal leaders must realize that they cannot negotiate self-government without us, any the young people and the people living in urban centres. As women, we are the keepers of the culture. We want to raise healthy children. We want community decision making. We want consent powers. We want all people in the communities to decide upon their form of governments. We want those Aboriginal women who are still banished from their communities to have a vote, some land, and a house in their homeland, in the community in which they were born. There are those among the Chiefs who would deny us a voice, who would deny us a place and those who wish we would simply go away until they have settled this political business. We are not going to go away. Our male leaders must make a place for us at the bargaining table. The fact that the existing power structure and process does not seem concerned with ensuring our full and constant participation leads many of us, living both on and off reserve, to believe that we will not be heard and our rights will not be protected in the negotiations for selfgovernment. As Native women, we must be fully involved in negotiations on selfgovernment. Our voices must be heard. 11."411111,. be allowed to federal and provincial governments, let alone to Aboriginal governments. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northerri'Wornan Page: �GLOBAL ENEMY - DIVIDED FEMINISTS - RACISM IN THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT by Nayyar Javed NAC Regional Representative Reprinted with permission of NAC from Feminist Action, June 1992 of women's In her analysis all across oppression the world, Nawal el-Sadawi, an Egyptian feminist comments, is global, "The enemy our struggle has to be global." Recognizing the commonalities of their own life experiences societies, in male-dominated women have to build alliances another at an with one international level. It is urgent that feminists unite globally to counteract the "new conservative agenda". the neoLeft undetered, lead us conservatives will into further destruction of exploitation of our planet, the underclass and oppression of women. adjustment Structural and already globalization have taken a huge toll. Backlash against progressive movements including women's resistance movements,.is a setback which no longer humankind can The survival of the afford. planet is threatened. recent years, women from all across the world have made building in gains some solidarity with each other. Feminists of the North have ability and improved their willingness to give space to from the South, their sisters their own reality to define and to construct feminism in context of their lived the experiences. In colour of Similarly, women Northern the in living hemisphere are now able to create a space for themselves to in the women's movement, put an end to the invisibility issues and their their of stengthen to struggle These feminism. the within transformations feminist movement are far from needed to develop a is what strategy that will be global fighting "the effective in enemy" that Dr. Nawal global The identified. has Eurocentric world view that our feminist sisters in the North have assimilated from in, the societies they live impedes our struggle to win feminists of the trust of the the Third World. The Eurocentric world view is premised on racist assumptions ensuing their and the Third constructions of assumed The World. "white of the superiority ingrained in is deeply race" of white the conciousness to In relating feminists. their sisters from the Third World, white feminists tend to dominate them and therefore definition of impose their oppression and women's feminism on them. In the decades, has scholarship past two feminist provided a rude awakening for its many many of us with "white the of critiques feminists of feminists" by We have learned to colour. listen to our visible minority reacting without sisters We are showing negatively. the signs of understanding women's of multiplicity contrast The oppression. international the between women's forums in 1975 and the in 1985 Nairobi in one change. this illustrates However, the many instances of by behaviour disrespectful white feminists continue to support feminists-of-colour's mistrust. their bodies are as insidious and mutilating as the veil in or countries Muslim some some circusmcision in female African societies. These women of colour can not North in comprehend why we as treat them America do not aware are very They equals. of the fact that in order to achieve equality we must not all are we that ignore our that and oppressed, culturaltakes oppression We must forms. specific thread common the recognize racist and that runs through and assumptions sexist must unite And we actions. globally to fight racism and sexism wherver we find these ideologies destructive other, in within ourselves, in the oppressive social and structures. Commonwealth a recent At Women's Conference in Toronto, our Canadian sisters of one was quite eager to show a in bride burning video on if she her I asked India. also intended to show one on She was in Canada. incest by my bewildered quite is reaction Her question. anexample of how women fail to commonality of the the see cruelty that we, as women, are any malein subjected to dominated society. Women of colour resent us for and defining their reality then imposing our views of feminism on them in the same to way patriarchy attempts define our reality. construction of Eurocentric the man of colour portrays him and sexist violent, as This assumed dangerous. dangerous nature of the man of intended to provide colour is a contrast with the gentleness of the "civilized white male". This assumption obscures the universality of sexism in all male-dominated societies. Western media dominant role have played a in portraying this image of the man of colour as barbaric and dangerous. An acclaimed movie "Not Without My Daughter" stands out as a classic illustration of how "man of colour" is constructed and presented in the Eurocentric world view. UPDATE The Supreme Court of Canada ha recently granted gays and lesbians the right to file complaints with the Canadiai Human Rights Commission. This decisioi will have significant effects in the areas o employment, benefits, services and ii particular, the Canadian Armed Forces The Ontario Human Rights Code ha included protection on the basis of sexua orientation since 1986. Last year, a Supreme Court judge hay given the Federal government six month to amend the existing law, which had bees declared unconstitutional. However, till government did not meet this deadline The Supreme Court then decided include sexual orientation in the Canadiai Human Rights Code, effectively by-passin, the government's indecision. We put down other cultures and exaggerate women's oppression in "non-white" societies without making the connections with out own oppression. "Non-white" women, on the other hand, see that anorexia and women's anxieties around PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 6 ti �DISCOVER - UPS COLUMBUS by Lorilee Wright Every society has its creation Garden of Eden is Each myth is a reflection of the society from Each myth which it grew. Modern exacts its penalty. North America, decaying in a myth. The but one. of cesspool venerates its own waste, Christopher Columbus, a known slave trader and profiteer (to name but a few of his abuses), as the Creator in its Creation Myth. there To believe Creation, must be Nothingness before it. of Columbus' priests The teachers, (the Creation historians, newspeople, public people, relations have taught us stockholders) that Columbus came to an empty without form and void, land, and with his Creation began of everything All dominion. our Created for was our and "discovery" The myth of "exploration". Christopher ColUmbus turned the ,jpeoples of' North, all Central and South America into and the people, a subject whole territory into a subject hemisphere. - This Creator is the man who inaugurated the slave trade in He introduced North America. the double scourges of disease would that religion and decimate huge populations and repress millions more to pave the way for the missionaries greater and greed He brought the exploitation. of blood" "purity idea of (limpieza de sangre) from the In Inquisition. Spanish later was this America transformed from a religious principle to a racial one to institutionalized establish This Creator launched racism. saw that strategy the technologies indigenous replaced by ones dependant on a in resources European "New the to make attempt Old, the like World" societies condemning the new He to poverty and dependency. codified the guiding principle of that the "New (under- is meant to Old the lusts of feed the and the World, (developed) the for pay to poor rich. extravagances of the This conceit can be named as the source for many of the problems faced by developing nations around the world as forced into their they are assigned role as reservoirs for the resource needs of the over-developed world. - A CREATION MYTH Christopher Columbus is a myth built on the twin deceits of a n d "exploration". His is a myth that reduces historical truth and ancestral to folk tale It's a knowledge to fable. myth that was invented to meet the needs of an over-populated and resource-depleted Europe, celebrated as and is still It's a myth that not gospel. only legitimized the plunder, but made it righteous. "discovery" the For five hundred years, have conquerors would-be worked to destroy the peoples and the cultures they have the Today, when met. Guatemalan army passes through a Mayan village, it continues systematic slaughter. the elders are and Children them ga and with killed, dreams for the future and the The teachings of the past. army boasts that they will They "leave them no seed". Create devastation on behalf of Texacrr- and Hispanorr&--- Getty Oil, who want to exploit oilfields on which these the people live oilfields in largest the Central America. The most profane of actions by consecrated been have Columbus, our Creator, in the commandments to name of dual So explore and to discover. of sake the for murder "discovery" is not sacrilege, but sacrament, and devastation the wake of "exploration" in of the status reached has suicide Planetary orthodoxy. and religious Rapture become Christopher Columbus is the Creation Myth of western society, and it reflects, as all Creation myths do, the values and principles, the ethics and morality of our society. Columbus was a man of greed who coveted wealth above all. He learned his seaman's trade as a slaver on the African coast and secured the money for his fateful trip as toady to a Queen. The reflection we see of ourselves in the Mirror of our Creator is not a flattering one. It shows the greed, the complacency, the ignorance and the arrogance of our culture. Many us see through the We are now beginning to comprehend the penalties we must pay and have been paying for our idolatry. We can see the arrogance of this Creation. The landing of Christopher Columbus is the basis for the myth - for the of cracks. decolat against all peoples for the benefit of those who invented it. Christopher Columbus was at best a false prophet for a cult of greed. We celebrate him at our peril. This article first appeared in Remote Control in Spring 1992 flifeZNINNZIVIPINNICPYIAZN NORTHERN WOMEN'S BOOKSTORE I one. came this "Conquest" With disrupted alien systems that social and economic life on Traditional levels. all foods, traditional systems of traditional cultivation, traditional ways of beliefs, life; all were consumed in the And with fires of "progress". natural the went them supported it environment that We'CIVON '93 Shared ViSiOn s all. developed) World" Christopher highly revered. the to cling Millions with Columbus mythologized zeal, fanatical almost honouring this visionary who "superior" European brought Our culture to the "Indians". and physical complicity in is too, too cultural genocide shockingly brutal to confess. myth The Columbus is of Rt/F-crxT)s cog. NN,OCT/E-1. 9 3 11E1:281011Y 1 9 9 3 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor m^HuitcrimIlMeiim*a4M162,..7.1 �SUCCESSFUL WOMEN'S CONFERENCE ON TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT Eagle Lake Lodge was the place to be on September 25th, 26th, 1992, for the STRIVING & THRIVING Conference, sponsored by the Northwestern Ontario Women's TTO Network, in partnership with Equay Wuk Women's Group, Sioux Lookout. Eight-nine women attended the conference from places such as Toronto, Winnipeg, all Northwestern Ontario communities, including isolated communities such as Cat Lake. All women were either employed in or interested in trades, technology or non-designated trades work (TTO). The conference was designed to bring women together to discuss training and employment opportunities in TTO work. We wanted to: link Northwestern Ontario aboriginal and non-aboriginal women, working or interested in working in trades, technology, operations and blue-collar work; * * put current economics of the region into perspective and future explore employment opportunities; * explore appropriate training models and support services for Northwestern Ontario trades, technology, operations and blue-collar workers; * establish amechanism for on-going development and follow-up for Northwestern Trades, technology, operations and blue-collar women. Opening ceremonies were carried out by Josephine King, followed by Key-note speaker, Marilyn Kenny, Western Vice President of Maritrain Ltd. Marilyn spoke on the "Women's Agenda on Training. Workshops on increasing selfesteem, Assertiveness training and The Aboriginal woman's TTO work were the most popular of the ten workshops. Other topics included Skills Training, Access to Training Dollars, Employment Equality, Health and Safety, Sexual Harassment, and Be Your Own Boss. The workshop on "Aboriginal Women", facilitated by Daisy Hoppe from Sioux Lookout was very well received. The main point in this particular workshop addressed the notion of women being a key to breaking the barriers to communications between the two cultures. As one participant stated, "It was good to see all the women, native and nonnative, integrate all together". The response was overwhelming when asked if women wanted another conference in it was Northwestern Ontario, strongly recommended that more time be spent on Assertiveness Self-Esteem Training, Search Job Training, Aboriginal Skills/Training, Women On and Off the Reserves, Access to and Opportunities in and Technology Trade Occupations. the the conclusion of conference a Northwest Women In and Technology Trades Network of women for (NWITT) with women was established the from representatives majority of communities around Northwest Ontario such as Atikokan, Kenora, Dryden, Fort Frances, Ignace, Red Lake/'Ear Thunder Falls, Sioux Lookout, Bay and Winnipeg. At Below are the contacts of the NWITT Network. Please contact the women in your area for more information on trade related work opportunities: ATIKOKAN Theresa Gouliquer Box 1358 Atikokan, Ont. POT 1C0 (807) 597-6355 (H) DRYDEN Katie Bissig Grp 32, Box 5, RR # 2 Dryden, Ont. P8N 2Y5 (807) 937-6531 (H) Linda Paquin RR # 3, Site 40, Box 21 Dryden, Ont. P8N 3G2 (807) 937-6085 (H) (807) 937-6612 (Mom) FORT FRANCES Anita Copenace Box 297 Fort Frances, Ont. P9A 3M6 1-800-668-6279 (W) (807) 484-2254 (H) IGNACE Christiane Leroux 317 Garden P.O. Box 644 Ignace, Ont. POT 1TO (807)934-6426 (W) (807) 934-6282 (Fax) (807) 934-6509 (H) KENORA Val Metail 334 Second Street S. Kenora, Ont. P9N 1G5 (807) 468-6555 (W) (807) 543-3197 (H) NORTHERN COMMUNITIES yet to be determined RED LAKE/EAR FALLS Bonnie Satten Box 194 Cochenour, Ont. POV 1L0 (807) 662-2069 SIOUX LOOKOUT Lorraine Vella Box 43 Hudson, Ont. POV 1X0 (807) 582-3576 (H) THUNDER BAY Juliet Woronkewych 372 Dawson Street Thunder Bay, Ont. P7A 3V2 (807) 345-5582 (W) (807) 345-4093 (Fax) (807) 344-9928 (H) Mary Zoccole 240 W. Brock St. Thunder Bay, Ont. P7E 4S3 (807) 475-2683 (B) (807) 475-4598 (H) PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Paae 8 �WE OLD ONES HAVE OUR OWN SMELL IT IS AN AURA OF A THOUSAND DISAPOINTMENTS OUR PERSPIRATION REEKS OF FAIIURE HEARTS AND NON FUNCTIONING KIDNEYS NO QUESTION OF'COMING ANYMORE GOING EVERY DAY MAY BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAPPINESS AND ANXIETY THE RELATIVES BRING US LAVISH SUPPLIES OF PERFUMED SOAP AND TOILET WATER AND PRETEND THEY DONT NOTICE THAT SWEET SMELL OF CREEPING DECAY UNLESS WE HAVE STORED WISDOM ABOVE THE NECK AND INTUITION IN THE GUT TO KEEP THE SPIRITUAL CENTRE AWAKE AND CAPABLE OF SEEING THE BEAUTY AROUND US WHILE WE MUMBLE, GRUMBLE AND DESPAIR OF THE WORST OF MAN'S FOOLISHNESS WE SHALL LOSE THE GIFT OF PERSPECTIVE. WE HAVE ESCAPED FROM CHAOS, WE SIT OR LAY OR STROLL THE STREET OR MALL WITH A HOUSE KEEPERS EYE, WE SMILE AND THE SMILE IS RETURNED, IT'S ENOUGH WE TALK TO OURSELVES IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC THEN MARVEL AT OUR ABILITY TO STOP ALL PROGRESS FOR OUR PLEASURE WE NOTE THE PUBLIC IS KIND, WE HAVE EARNED A PATIENCE BEYOND EVEN MANNERS THE RESPECT THAT SOME OF US MISSED ALONG THAT ROAD OF STRUGGLE ALL IN ALL IT'S A SWEET TIME OF LIFE IF YOU HAVE THE IMAGINATION TO WRITE ABOUT IT. Gert Beadle REFLECTIONS Following your path stepping diligently into each footprint To My Grandmother Reflections I remember as a child how you wanted me for your own but you had only one son I like being your dressup doll it made me feel special The stories you told sometimes haunted me I dreamt of ghosts harboring at my bedside of the unspoken times when I trailed behind you merely a toddler trusting and carefree framing your walls with my innocence As a young woman I confided in you We would sit down for tea then you'd tell my future Did you ever see yourself in me? Your mysticism intrigued me the aura of spiritual wisdom you so greatly adorned Your musical teapot and red ruby ring The deepest pain I ever felt was the day I held you helpless to your fate I tried desperatly to contain you but with every breath you drifted further away from me and your heart ceased and your soul with silver tipped wings escaped gleefully Now the epitaph on your shrine is all the world can see and I am left with an aching emptiness as I live with your memory Pictures I treasure your red ruby ring and musical teapot your tea leaf notes symbolized in the palm of my hand Everytime my light flickers or my chimes sing I feel comforted once again by the special bond we shared Now branded and fertile my footprints encompass yours with a gentle unspoken gratitude Linda Ewashina Linda Ewashina PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 9 �LABOUR LAW AND by Sara Williamson In August, the Ontario NDP government WOMEN women's and immigrant women's organizations last winter pointed out that the amendments do not include any held their final round of hearings on organizing protection for the live-in house amendments to the Ontario Labour Relations Act. This is the legislation which governs the relationship between employee. keeper or baby-sitter who is the sole In Ontario, in order to unionize, there must be at least two employers and ,unions. In the previous hearings, labour and business reiterated employees on the employer's payroll. their needs and the direction they wanted amendments to go. For this set of hearings, the Ontario Federation of When women and their co-workers do Labour through the Thunder Bay & District Labour Council, and Port Arthur choose to join a union, the employer will not be able to stall for as long a time in negotiating the first contract. The amendment doesn't exactly light a fire job. If it is to be a fair playing field, t employer should lose income al Revenue from sales of products a services should cease. When someo else takes over a worker's job during t strike, expect the strike to drag out, a become bitter and violent. To create balanced negotiating climate there shot be a law against the use of any stri breakers. The business lobby and t legislation refer to strike-breakers "replacement workers". Union people c, them scabs! make a presentation. No women's groups agreement for a union there has extra Unionized workers under fedel jurisdiction will not be protected by h when a business is sold or transferred provincial jurisdiction. That proposal w quietly dropped. This confirms t. suspicions of federal public servi workers that they will be left out in t] cold when the federal governme were scheduled for the Thunder Bay obstacles. This is because the worksite is buried inside a complex that is privately responsibilities over to the province. Member of Parliament, Shelley WarkMartyn encouraged other community interest groups, especially women, to tell their stories of the effect of labour law change. Decade Council, the Women's Center, Faye Peterson House and other women's representatives did apply to hearings. The impression for the public was that the discussion around the amendments was strictly a fight between corporate interests and labour interests. Why would the hearings committee under the boss's feet but it does set shorter time limits before a settlement must be reached (with the use of a private arbitrator if necessary). Many women work in stores in shopping malls. Organizing and getting a collective owned. Standing at the store entrances and exits to give union organizing information to the workers was often forbidden by the mall owner. If the deliberately mislead people into believing that this was a polarized issue where both workers did join as union and negotiations "sides" would need to compromise? In fact, this legislation affects the living standards of all of us. In Thunder Bay, women's voices did get a bit of coverage workers' only recourse was to walk off the thanks to the initiative of Cindy Edmonds broke down to the point where the job, the mall owner would forbid the workers to picket in front of the store. Bad employers were taking advantage of this loop hole and would not try to work several hours before the hearings. out a fair contract_with,khe workers. If there was no picket line, the employer could easily bring in scabs to take the workers' jobs and unsuspecting What difference will these amendments make for women? customers would make purchases with no idea that a strike was going on. Under the amendment, organizing and picketing will the Pi*esident of the Port Arthur NDP Riding Association and the Women's Centre, who . held a media conference be allowed at entrances and exits of the In some cases, it will give women a chance to have an organized voice about their working conditions. It does offer the potential for a bit more security for parttime workers, mall retail workers, workers worksite in the mall. Women working for a cleaning contractor, food services contractor or contractor of other services for a particular building for cleaning services, for some food service workers, and for workers of nanny or homemaker agencies. will, under the changes to the Act, be able to keep their jobs and working conditions if the building owner changes contractors. If you are a part-time worker, you and your part-time co-workers can have the same contract as the full-time workers. the building. Until this amendment comes in, part-time workers in Ontario have had to organize separately and negotiate separately. It is harder to get together with co-workers who are only at the worksite part-time. It is also harder to negotiate for fairer working conditions when the employer considers you as merely supplementary to In other words, the new contractor must hire the workers who have been servicing Until now, employers could get police escorts to bring in strike breakers. Under the proposed amendment, when at least 60% of those voting in a woman's Unions asked for the legal right to bri] union information to the lunch rooms worksites. When else will working worn( have a moment to meet? Labour's nee, were ignored in order to further appea the business lobby whom the Liber leader, Lyn McLeod echoes. So what do you think? I bet you ar wondering what all the fuss and boc the business lobb: They appear to have successfully badgere Bob Rae into producing the sort milquetoast set of labour law amendment booing is about that a Liberal government might hav produced. So they got more than the share of the cake and they are trying t see if they can get some more. The amendments will speed several more groups of workers will gai the same organizing rights as mo workers. Useful reforms, but far too mil to deal effectively with the vicious profi before-people mentality being promote globally by big business. Sara Williamson is active in the labor movement and the women's community Thunder Bay. one from that bargaining unit can legally cross the picket line and no additional staff can be brought in to do the work. BUT... anyone not in the bargaining unit conditions and benefits would offer great peace of mind. the blessing of the law enforcers! This is grossly unfair. Going on strike is a last resort for unionized workers. It is used Domestic workers can now technically join when all efforts to negotiate a fair collective agreement fail. Workers want can do the work and the employer can move the work to another location with to keep working. Women do not readily give up their little earnings so stretched to care for themselves and their families. A strike costs the workers lost earnings and at least temporarily, the loss of a steady PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page la u judgements on complaints about unfa labour practices. This is very importan Also, as I mentioned at the beginnin; bargaining unit voted to strike, then no the core full- time staff. Since so many women can only work part-time, the possibility of gaining better working a union. BUT... only where the employer has two or more employees. It will be a help for women working for , house cleaning services, home care agencies and nanny agencies. Presentations from dissolves more departments and tur �LABOUR LAW: ONE WOMAN'S VIEW The following is a submission to the Labour Reform Committee written by Luisa Alfonso of Thunder Bay. My name is Luisa Alfonso. My husband and I came to Canada in 1982 from Chile, as political refugees. Our only son was born in this country in September 1985. My first working experience, like many other immigrant's, was really shocking. Working as a dishwasher, language barrier, no benefits, and no possibilities of getting any improvement were only a few of them. After our son was born our financial situation got even worse. My husband was unemployed, i was really sick (I had three operations in two years, one of them during my pregnancy), our son was chronically asthmatic, we were spending up to $200 a month for medication, I was working, not as a dishwasher any more, but as a secretary. Working for $6.00/hr., no benefits. Also at the same time I was supplying at night school almost every night from six to 11:00 for the same amount of money. Working up to 11 hoUrs a day with a sick baby and an unemployed husband that I didn't even have the time to see during the day. I survived but I still am 'paying for that physically and economically. My only hope was to find a decent job. A unionized job. In 1987, I got a job as a secretary for the Lakehead Board of Education and I became a member of the OPEIU. Soon after that my husband found a job and eventually he also started to work for the Lakehead Board in less than a year he organized his coworkers into a union, the OSSTF. Since then our situation improved 100% and our family quality life is also very good. We don't work any harder than we used to work, that is impossible, but we enjoy a better life only because we have the opportunity of being part of a union. Unfortunately, not every immigrant has this opportunity and when they try to improve by getting organized, they face firings and intimidation by employers. It is very easy to get discouraged when one has a couple of children waiting for your pay cheque at home. As an immigrant woman, I would like to thank the government of Ontario for the opportunity to speak up on such an important matter for working people as the reform of the Act that regulates our very ability to make a living. Workers in Ontario like everywhere else in the world only have their labour to sell in order to survive. I truly believe that the The NDP government in this province has been under attack by the powerful OLRA, for pin money, but because they could not find full time jobs. In Ontario only 15% of part time workers are unionized therefore they receive lower wages, no benefits, less job security and almost no career opportunities. The reform to the Mail (Nov. 11, 1991) recognized that the OLRA will do justice to thousands of employer's organizations and their media because of the initiative to reform the but they have always been opposed to changes in favour of the people, haven't they? What is almost surrealistic is that even the Globe and reforms are very modest and far from revolutionary like big capital in this province has suggested in the psychological terror campaign against the OLRA's reform. I want to strongly necessary if we are committed to offer decent conditions of living to the people of Ontario. women like me in Ontario, it will give us the opportunity to really become part of the economic, political and social web of this province. support the government on this initiative, they must know they have the backing of the people of this province, the people to whom they are ultimately accountable. Immigrants and in particular, immigrant women, are at the very bottom of the cheap labour pool and a high percentage of the new immigrants are coming from the so-called 'non-traditional areas.' Many of them are war refugees, people with very little command of the English language and no knowledge of the laws of the land, therefore an easy prey for unscrupulous employers that, taking advantage of the big holes in the existing labour laws, are having a ball abusing the rights of workers to organize. They very well know that if they fire the 'trouble maker' that wants union on the shop it will take at least six months before an illegally discharged worker is reinstated by the Labour Board. In that period of time the rest of the workers will have become intimidated and the organization No wonder the drive defeated. manufacturers' association is opposed to the reform when one of the proposals is to ensure that workers illegally fired during an organizing drive will have a quick hearing with strict time limits, and for heaven's sake we need it. As an immigrant woman I applaud the proposed expansion of the Women of Invention: Individuals who changed our Lives - an extension exhibit from the National Museum of Science and Technology, Ottawa Co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Communications and Soroptimist International of Thunder Bay, the exhibit examines women's inventions from three points of view: Women as Agents of Change, By Women and for Women, and Inventions for Everyone. public education service to make sure that everyone knows his or her rights. I hope Featured are the inventions of 37 women and a short biographical sketch of each that some of the most vital information will be available in the most languages from the point of view of the immigrant composition of labour in Ontario. inventor, as well as information on the process of inventing, and the marketing As an organized worker, I am more than practical inventors in solving problems that directly affect them. It displays and illustrates a wide variety of inventions for babies, the home, the office, for life saving and ecology. pleased to know that the changes will include anti-scab legislation that will prevent capital from annulling the effectiveness of a strike. Anti-scab legislation has been in place in Quebec since 1978 and has not caused a mass exodus of industries in that province. Industrialist paranoia in Ontario has no foundation whatsoever and this province will not lose a single plant because of anti-scab legislation: the Free Trade Agreement is doing that work very well indeed. Act's overhaul has been overdue for a long time and the changes are absolutely of them are working less than 40 hours a week, not because they are just working Part time workers compose over 15% of labour in Ontario. Women make up 75% and protection of inventions. The exhibit shows that women are There are items such as Liquid Paper, the Jolly Jumper, coffee filters, Scotchguard, Kevlar, and fuel substitutes. Northwestern Ontario is represented by an inventor from Dryden, Ontario. The exhibit opened September 29th and continues till November 23rd at the Thunder Bay Museum, 219 May Street S. For more information call 622 - 0801. of the part time labour force; recent surveys indicated that the huge majority PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page-11 �CHRISTMAS IN THE WEST, CHRISTMAS IN THE EAST by Josie Wallenius Esmerelda came through the door and went into her kitchen. She reached into a she loved like anything, and she pondered if they would understand. cupboard for the gin, found the bottle empty, and dropped it into her recycling box marked 'glass.' She began to imagine. Suppose she got a card of herself made out of a photo she She slumped into her rocking chair, and mused, "What is to be done?" had of herself at the medical clinic in Bethlehem, where she had gone in the summer with the Grandmothers For Peace. She wasn't musing about her gin, she was musing about Christmas, and it was only September. "When you know something you can't not know it" muttered Esmerelda, and again she mused aloud, "What is to be done' as Suppose, Esmerelda pondered, she bougi the grandchildren just one small toy to E along with the card. Would that make it alright? No, it wouldn't. It would mean Esmerelc was afraid, and fear was not love, ar Christmas was about love, love for a children, not fear. Suppose she wrote in this card a message to her grandchildren that they did not But she had seen these neat little jacke need any more toys, that the children in with a picture of a moose on them Bethlehem needed medicine, and that she Ryden's store, and she had planned to gl those, and clothes were not toys. was sure they would be happy that they it was always and for ever, such a neat would have one less toy so that the children in Bethlehem would be a bit question and, she liked neat things. happier that day. Perhaps. But her grandchildren had enough clothe and the children of Bethlehem did not. The problem was, in a nutshell, that Esmerelda laughed to herself as she Esmerelda knew the economy she lived in Suddenly Esmerelda was struck with imagined her grandchildren's eyes lighting up with joy at the thought of it all. thought. made weapons, and thus wars, and she could not for the life of her imagine herself this Christmas trying to pretend she did not know this. Then Esmerelda though of her son, and she thought of her daughter-in-law, and she pondered. As she had done 'the year before and Suppose she went without gin froi September to the beginning of Decembe saved the money, bought the jackets, sei the jackets and the card about Bethlehei to her daughter-in-law and passed th before that. She wasn't too sure of their joy. Everything was not right, not neat at all, and something had to be done. And she knew why. Her daughter-in-law was neat. She grew glum. Her Esmerelda pondered. She had a neat thought. At least, she thought it was neat problem on to her. She knew some would understand, be them for Christmas Day to go with th card. Mother's know best, and he daughter-in-law was Esmerelda' even glad, because they were a bit sick too the women at work, she used to get seemed to experiments. of not knowing what to do for children grandchildren's mother, Esmerelda wasn' who had too much. But there were others who never seemed to be impressed with Esmerelda rocked in her chair. She wa Esmerelda's bright ideas at all, and just be afraid of unusual her loved ones got kind of upset, but Esmerelda liked being loved by everybody else and she never went too far, because she was afraid. But this was Christmas coming up, and it was coming up everywhere, including Bethlehem, and Esmerelda knew it was time to take greater risks than ever. "I'll send a card to all my family, and the women at work, and tell them I am going to send the money I would have spent on them to the children suffering from our bombs in Bethlehem and that will make everybody happy." Esmerelda pondered. She wasn't so sure. Christmas was Christmas, and as life would have it, nobody believed you loved them anymore if you didn't give them a present. And Esmerelda had grandchildren who choos4 children the jackets any old time, or kee Esmerelda thought she was very good at preaching to others. At least everybody got fed up with her, so she presumed it was so. But when it came to the people she loved the most, like her family, and She used to take chances, and could She thought of the women at work. at first. chicken. daughter-in-law Whether, or whether not to, give th Esmerelda thought of the bombs, shook her head in a start, and realised that was their bad luck, but her son and daughterin-law were different. She loved them so much that sometimes she just couldn't bear it. Not with all her other worries. going to make a lovely card. It was goin to be a collage of children's faces. He own grandchildren and the children frog Bethlehem. And she would mention Jesus, and wh Jesus was, and what he meant. And i her imagination she saw he grandchildren's eyes light up. Maybe the would take the card to school and show off. `Dear Brett and Simon. This is a preser from Nan in Canada, and it is a card ti show you I am sending a Christma present to the children living in the plac near where Jesus was born and th children in Bethlehem will know it i coming from you, and they will be ver happy today because you are thinking them.' Esmerelda wondered what her daughter She rememberei in-law would do. Christmas from days gone by when he children had been young, and she tried t, work out what she would have thought 1 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor �her mother-in-law had pulled a fast one WOMEN TEACHERS like that. And she could not imagine. Because it was days gone by, and times were changing, changing so fast that Esmerelda realized that her little letter had been so FIGHT FAMILY VIOLENCE driven with her own fear it made her puke. Children in Bethlehem hopping about on one leg because of our economy, children going to bed on Christmas Eve in terror because they were afraid the soldiers would come for their mother or father again, because our weapons need their oil, and she imagined herself getting the children to sit on her knee and saying, `Look kids. This is Christmas. It's supposed to be about this man called Jesus being born, and he was called "The Prince of Peace" and he was supposed to be the Son of God who said "Suffer all the little children to come unto me" so it's not RIGHT to have guns for Christmas, it's not RIGHT that you have all these toys when other children have nothing, so I'm going to send my Christmas money to other children, because there's a big shakedown coming and I love you, do you understand?' Because Esmerelda realized she was going to have to jump one generation. The middle one was already lost to the Big Eye, and when you kitow something, you just can't not know it. Family violence affects everyone. An estimated 150,000 to 250,000 school aged children in Ontario are exposed to family violence. How do these children from violent homes cope at school? The Federation of Women Teachers' Associations of Ontario (FWTAO) has become more vocal in their fight against family violence in recent years. In 1990, to commemorate the Montreal Massacre, the FWTAO published an award winning newsletter which is now one of the many resources available to their membership. By making such materials available to classroom teachers, the school system may be learning, at the ground level, how to understand and help children from violent homes. manommasommemannemywomenralmmemmumona SUGGESTED READING: WOMEN'S HISTORY IN CANADA A CANADIAN WOMEN IN HISTORY: Chronology, edited by Moira Armour and Pat Staton Essays on DESPITE THE ODDS: Canadian Women and Science, edited by Marianne G. Ainley strategies to educate children and teachers on family violence. The feature article Violence Against Women - An Epidemic and a National Disgrace examines the resolution for children, and curriculum development materials for units on conflict resolution. A selected resource list containing videos, fiction, educational kits and resource books on the topic of children and violence, child abuse, and family violence is included. The Barbara Schlifer Commemorative Clinic in Toronto is profiled. This clinic provides free legal counselling to female victims of wife assault, sexual assault and survivors of childhood sexual abuse and incest. This article would be an introduction to those not familiar with the issues of violence. women who are victims of There are several articles directed specifically at teachers, which deal with teacher awareness, sexual abuse and sex role stereotypes As well, a model violence awareness week program which took place in London Ontario is detailed. Parents, teachers and students were actively involved in planning this special school week. As well as classroom activities on awareness, advocacy and alternatives, students and teachers received education QUEBEC WOMEN: A History edited by Micheline Dumont et from the staff of a women's shelter. al curriculum was developed for use in New Essays GENDER CONFLICTS: in Women's History, edited by Franca Lacovetta and Mariana Valverde 1990. This was a pilot project centring on student education and is now being reproduced in many locales. In the project, each division is targeted with a specific theme on violence education; primary (kindergarten - grade 3) People are Not for Hitting, junior (grades 4-6) We are Responsible for Our Own Actions, intermediate (grades 7 & 8) Gender Stereotyping and it's Effect on Behaviour. These themes were explored through a variety of activities, role playing exercises and classroom discussions. A teaching package was developed and is available to all schools. Ask your child's teacher or principal about family violence education in your school. School Teachers' Federation (OPSTF), creating a healing circle for children in the Middle East Children's Alliance 2140 Shattuck Ave., Suite 207 Berkeley, CA 94704 USA Teachers' Women and Children contains articles pertaining to Board and school level classroom to build self-esteem, conflict Photos and cards of children in Palestine available from: Women Similar projects are underway in many Other articles discuss Greek Catholic Convent Clinic Beit Sahour P.O. Box 44 Via Israel Canadian Federation embarked on the project in of the FWTAO Violence Against This special issue newsletter entitled facts about violence and shows how sexism please send donations to The Resource materials were collected and subsequent years. large Canadian cities. The Ontario Public representing male public school teachers, reports that an interdisciplinary approach was taken in the development of a family violence unit in a Hamilton Ontario school. A curriculum was written for grades Junior Kindergarten - OAC (grade was given to 13) and in-service the school staff before the project began. The program was written by the Hamilton Board of Education and family violence professionals. Strategies were developed for classroom use and a procedure was put in place for those student who chose to disclose information about their own Crisis workers and family situation. counsellors were used as well as the staff from the local women's shelter. Students learned about the factors which contribute to violence - stereotyping, power and control - through activities appropriate to their grade level. Knowledge of the issue of violence is necessary for students to help them develop an understanding of positive relationships. Information about community resources and counselling is also available. Ask your child's teacher or principal about family violence education in your school. The FWTAO issue on Violence Against Women and Children is available to the public and is an excellent resource for all teachers, parents, social service and child care workers. You may obtain this issue by sending $4.00 to: Federation of Women Teachers' Association of Ontario 1260 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario M5R 2B8 *******************************###****************************************** continued pg 16 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 43 �Ontario Women's Directorate Direction generale de Ia condition feminine de ('Ontario Northern Office 107C Johnson Ave. Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 2V9 (807) 345-6084 MOMENTS IN HISTORY Bureau du nord 107C, avenue Johnson Thunder Bay (Ontario) P7B 2V9 (807) 345-6084 GRANTS October is Women's History Month It would be absurd to ask a woman today if she thought of herself as a person. But only RESOURCE CENTRE WIFE ASSAULT PUBLIC EDUCATI( New resources available to the public in the Northern Office Resource Centre are: received funding from Ontario Womei 63 years ago women weren't considered persons - at least not in the eyes of the law. What most history books don't mention is that October 18 1929 marks a landmark legal decision for Canadian women. On that day a judgement was delivered on behalf of the Privy Council in London, England stating, The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours". Since then other women have won individual cases for all women. BATTERED WOMEN AS SURVIVORS by Lee Ann Hoff. It analyses and reveals the relationship between personal crisis and traditional attitudes toward women, marriage, the family, and violence. HELPING YOUR CHILD RECOVER FROM SEXUAL ABUSE by Caren Adams and Jennifer Fay. This book offers guidance for parents who courageously face the days and months after a child's abuse. 1937 Dorothea Palmer, an employee of the Parents' Information Bureau, who works in a poor Ottawa suburb, is acquitted of distributing birth-control information. SEXUAL HARASSEMENT ON THE JOB by William Petrocelli and Barbara Kate Repa. 1967 Jeanette Lavell and Yvonne Bedard, two native women take their case before the Supreme Court of Canada. They allege that the Indian Act discriminates against them since, unlike native men, native women lose their Indian status, With all its rights and privileges,,,when they marry non-natives. Although the court rules against them, largely because of their efforts, the Indian Act is amended. THE CANADIAN FAMILY IN CRISIS by John F. Conway. This book examines the drastic changes which have occurred in It covers all aspects of the problem--from annoying behavior to physical abuse. November is Wife Assault Preventi Month. The following northern groups he Directorate to support community activit that promote the prevention of wife assai Public education materials such information sheets, brochures, buttons a posters are also available from OWD. > Canadian Mental Health Associate Family Resource Centre, Matheson > Omushkegiskwew House - Mooson Family Resource Centre > Sudbury Coordinating Committee Agaii Wife Assault >Chadwic Home, Wawa > Pavilion Family Resource Centre > Hoshizaki House, Dryden > Manitoulin Haven House > New Starts for Women, Red Lake > Faye Peterson Transition House, Thunc Bay Rights 1980 The Federal Human million awards a $2.3 Commission settlement to women librarians in what is the first major case to establish the principle that Canada in the past 20 years in family life. Franoaises Section Resurrection, Sturge >Wabigoon Native Women's Group >Centre for International Cooperati (DOORS), Thunder Bay THE COMING OUT STORIES by Julia Abuse > Parry Sound Indian Friendship Centre > Lakehead Women Teachers' Associati Anti-Violence Committee > Tikinagan Child and Family Servic Family Counselling Unit, Sandy Lake > Marjorie House, Marathon > Ojibways of Sucker Creek >Native and Northern Awarene Committee, North Bay > Centre de Counselling Familial de Timmi lesbians, - that coming out remains an intensely emotional and often painful experience, even in the 1980's. when Ontario Human Rights Commission rules that: "Discrimination on New videos are: the basis of sex in athletic events is unlawful in Ontario." FOUR STORIES produced by IBM and team EMPLOYMENT EQUITY FOR PERSONS WITH A DISABILITY produced by Independent Living Centre, Thunder Bay. the <><><><><><><><><><><> Applications for Sexual Assault Pub Education Grants funding will be mailed community groups next month. providing public community. awareness in in harassment-free workplace. covering her during a 17 week period around the birth of her baby. The Supreme Court of Canada rules that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy is sex discrimination. >Kenora Coalition Against Violence a SEXUAL ASSAULT PUBLIC EDUCATIO Two new educational tools for use employer is responsible for providing a 1989 Susan Brooks, a cashier at Safeway, complains to the Manitoba Human Rights Commission that her employee benefits package discriminates against her by not des Femmes Canadienn Falls Justine Blainey, a 12 year old girl, wins the right to play on a boys' hockey is a form of discrimination and that the > Federation SEXUAL POLITICS by Kate Millet. A classic analysis of the interplay between men, women, and culture. edition shows the processes for many Supreme Court rules that sexual harassment Coordinatil exemption laws and an invaluable bibliography on wife rape. '-fl,r-:=M7:77,7777 Penelope and Susan J. Wolfe. This second Two Winnipeg waitresses, Diana Janzen and Tracy Govereau, are fired after being sexually harassed by the cook. The Temiskaming Committee value. 1989 >South RAPE IN MARRIAGE by Diana E. H. Updated listing of marital rape Russell. different work can still be work of equal 1987 >Geraldton Family Resource Centre Friendship Cent > Nishnawbe-Gamik Sioux Lookout > Les elles du Nord, Longlac >Sturgeon Falls Family Resource Centre UPCOMING EVENTS COMMUNITY GRANTS Workshop: Sexual Violence Against Women and Children October 29 and 30, 1992 and December 3 The deadline for the next OWD Commun Grants is December 1, 1992. For information about grants criteria, cont either Thunder Bay or Toronto offices collE before the due date. and 4, 1992 Centre de Kapuskasing Loisirs,Room Belanger, Register by: October 23, 1992 FREE Telephone: (705)335-8538 Fax: (705)3354217 04,sessts0 <><><><><><><><><><> This page is sponsored by the Ontario Women's Directoi Workshop: Mother & Daughter Relationships November 6 and 7, 1992 Unitarian House, Thunder Bay Register by: October 23, 1992 $25.00 Telephone: 344-5980 The material contained on it may be photocopied distributed without permission, but with credit to the oric source of the Ontario Women's Directorate. Cette page est marrainee par la direction de la cond feminine en Ontario. Les materiaux ci-inclu peuvent copier et distribuer sans permission, mais avec accredita envers Ia source original, la direction de la cond feminine de ('Ontario. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 14 �BOOK REVIEWS examines the institution formal education and provides concrete examples of school programs that address the need to provide boys and girls with conflict resolution programs, parenting classes and social studies programs that demystify the "glories" of war. She of Reviewed by Michele Proulx Boys Will Be Boys: breaking the link between masculinity and violence Myriam Miedzian, Doubleday, 1991 Myriam Miedzian holds a PhD in Philosophy as well as a Masters in Clinical Social Work. In this book, she addresses the issue of solving the problem of endemic male violence in (North) American society. Her research is voice thorough, her articulate. Her results are to say the least - provoking. Miedzian states her thesis: ... many of the values of the masculine mystique, such as toughness, dominance, repression of empathy, extreme competitiveness, play a role in criminal and domestic violence and underlie the thinking and policy decisions of our political leaders." A Woman's Odyssey in Africa: tracks She begins by describing the status quo; the acceptance of violence as a way of life when male behaviour is the norm - and proceeds to examine systematically both what it is that reinforces violent behaviour in boys and what can be done to change the socialization of boys in order to decrease violence. ' Miedzian draws upon myriad interviews with people from many fields and integrates both academic and popular literature to examine the institutions that function, in concert, to socialize boys individually and collectively. She explores the institution of the family and identifies the glaring lack of involved, nurturant male role models for boys. And for this reader, she quite offensively lays some of the blame at the feet of families headed by women. Klein recounts her estrangment from her mother: "The closest she came to touching me may be seen in a family portrait taken across a life Hanny Lightfoot-Klein Harrington Park Press, 1992 just before we left Germany." And she Hanny Lightfoot-Klein tells us a story that describes her emotional enslavement and near incestual relationship with her father. is two stories, well enough woven to be compelling to the reader's curiosity until the last page is finished. In one she chronicles her solo backpacking travels in sub-Saharan Africa taken over four years; where among other adventures, she gathered material for her recently published work on female genital mutilation, Prisoners of Ritual. In the other story she recounts tales of her own origins. And the reader finds herself compelled by the weave of both stories. The writer-traveller explores the Sudan on her own terms, searching for understanding of a rigidly enforced cultural practice that claims the external genitalia of all "respectable" women when they are little girls five to nine years old. And in sharing these travels, the author recounts stories of her own upbringing in a household that offers a strange reflection of the torment suffered by the African victims of overt physical mutilation. Kleins parents were refugees from Nazi Germany and in her own words: "...hopelessly ill-matched...she [her mother] and Natan/Satan hated one another with a passion that bordered on dementia." It is the reflection-refraction between these two stories that compells the reader. As one learns more about this brave and articulate former highschool teacher, and mother, one is struck by her drive to come to terms with her own story as she explores the practice of female genital mutilation and ties to avoid western condescension: "Before we pass judgement on those who inflict the tortures of The Barbaric Practice in Africa, or on those who simply submit to them without Miedzian takes on mainstream, popular culture: television, film video, and music. She addresses the influence of professional sports on boys as spectators and amateur sport as participants. She proposes regulation to structure sports teach to really programs n o n values. violent/cooperative) And finally she examines the boys "violence toy" market: to parallel "The proper prudery with Victorian sexual is not respect to violence banning war toys and war play. is forbidding children to It express any feelings of anger at all, and making or rage very guilty about them feel aggressive play. any kind, of Buying boys Transformers, GI and Nintendo games is Joes, not akin to buying them Judy Blume books, which deal in a healthy realistic sensitive way with the sexual and other It is concerns of children. them to buying akin magazines pornographic During designed for children. era, the Victorian young children who masturbated were often told this could lead to insanity. Today's enlightened parents would not dream of saying such a thing to their But on the other children. hand they don't go out and buy them toy dildos and sex magazines either... " prosocial ( This book stands as a valuable to the studied addition examination of accepted Not violence in our society. only does the author explore offers the she issues, practical examples of solutions; not only for the socializing institutions, but also for concerned parents and individual educators who for endeavour to make "progress in the control of the disease of violence." social rebellion, we might do well to first examine our own cultural practices and our own barbarities." Lightfoot-Klein is a woman who, in process, leaves her old life and old roles behind at fifty-one years of age to pursue long held dreams of adventure and exploration. Her stories are empowering; writes of overcoming physical, economic and social barriers in fulfillment she of her own path. Her style of writing is humourous and pleasant to read. Her stories challenge the reader to reflect upon her own path and where it may lead if the imagination and the courage can be sufficiently tapped. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 15 �QUIZ ON WOMB IN CANADIAN HISTORY 1. Who said, "Whitever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult." ? (a) Sheila Copps (c) Margaret Laurence (b) Margaret Atwood (d) Charlotte Whitton 2. Who was Canada's first woman Governor General? (a) Jeanne Sauve (c) Gabrielle Leger (b) Pauline Vanier (d) Norah Mitchener 3. Saskatoon Lily was... (a) A Canadian Olympic high jump champion (b) A prairie wildflower (c) The first woman on the Canadian Wheat Board 12. Who was Elsie Gregory MacGill? (a) Canada's first woman judge (b) Canada's first woman journalist (c) Canada's first woman aeronautical engineer (d) Canada's first woman Dean 13. This woman founded the Anti-Slavery Society in Toronto in 1851, and is widely credited as North America's first black newspaperwoman. (a) Susanna Moodie (c) Rose Fortune (b) Mary Ann Shadd Cary (d) Mattie Hayes 14. Who said, "Never retract, never explain, never apologize - get the thing done and let them howl" ? (a) Laura Sabia (b) Nellie McClung (c) Emily Murphy (d) Gloria Steinem 4. In which Canadian province did women first win the right to vote in 1916 ? (a) Saskatchewan (c) Ontario (b) Manitoba (d) Alberta 15. In 1982, who was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada? 5. Who was Canada's first woman radio broadcaster? (a) Sandra Day O'Connor (b) Rosalie Abella (a) Ethel Cruise (b) Therese Casgrain (c) ldola Saint-Jean (d) Anna Dexter 16. Pauline McGibbon was... (a) Canada's first woman Senator (b) The coach of the Canadian women's Olympic field hockey team (c) The first woman lieutenant-governor in, the British Commonwealth 6. As of which date were women recognized as "persons" under Canada's Constitution? (a) October 18, 1929 (c) July 1, 1867 (b) April 17, 1982 (d) December 11, 1931 7. Who was the first woman physician to practice medicine in Canada? (a) Clara Brett Martin (b) Emily Howard Stowe (c) Bertha Wilson (d) Rose Lee (c) Catherine Parr Trail! (d) Martha Hamm Lewis 8. Who were the Edmonton Grads? _(a) the first all-women class to graduate from university (b) a national champion women's ringette team (c) an amateur women's basketball team (d) a group of Alberta women scholars 9. Who was Emily Pauline Johnson? She was... (a) Canada's first woman lawyer 17. In what year did the first equal pay for equal work legislation come into effect in Canada? (a) 1899 (c) 1935 (b) 1952 (d) 1967 18. This woman was largely responsible for the restoration of native rights to native women who had married non-natives. (a) Nellie Mildred-Carlson (b) Mary Two-Axe Early (c) Jane Manuel (d) Nellie Cournoyea 19. Agnes Macphail was... (a) The first woman to head a Royal Commission in Canada (b) One time head of the Canadian Teachers Federation (c) The first woman member of Canada's Parliament (b) Canada's first woman M.P. from British Columbia (c) an early leader in the struggle for native women's rights (d) a native poet and eniertainer 20. This woman was one of the leading 20th-century reformers in this country. She led the struggle for women's suffrage in Quebec before World War II. (a) Marie Gerin-Lajoie (c) Therese Casgrain (d) Annie Buller (b) Laure Gaudreault 10. Who was Canada's first woman Senator? (a) Solange Chaput-Rolland (b) Margaret Carson (c) Cairine Wilson (d) Huguette Plamondon 11. This woman, a Mohawk, was born in 1736. She was the wife of Loyalist Sir William Johnson, and acted as a liaison between her tribe and the English settlers. (a) Madelaine De Vercheres (b) Elizabeth Couc (c) Molly Brant (d) Mary Fubbester (For answers please see page 2 ************************************ **************** SUGGESTED READING: WOMEN'S HISTORY IN CANADA CLAIM: NOT UNREASONABLE Canada, Reform in and Women edited by Linda 1880-1920's, Kealey A Canadian BEYOND THE VOTE: Women and Politics, eds. Linda Kealey and Joan Sangster CHANGING WOMEN, CHANGING of A Bibliography HISTORY: in Women of History the Canada, ed. Diana Pedersen MAJORITY; NEGLECTED THE Women's in Canadian Essays I & Vol. II, by Vol. History, Alison Prentice and Susan Mann Trofimenkoff The CANADA: RETHINKING Promise of Women's History, by Veronica Strong-Boag and Clair Fellman BRITISH COLUMBIA REVISITED: Essays on Women edited by Gillian Cresse and Veronica Strong-Hoag THE NATURE OF THEIR BODIES: Women and Their Doctors in Victorian Canada, by Wendy Mitchinson WOMEN WHO TAUGHT: edited by Alison Prentice and Marjorie R. Theobald LIFE LIVED LIKE A STORY: Julie Crunkshank et al OUR GRANDMOTHERS LIVES as to in their own words edited and translated by Fre4 Ahenakew and H. C. Wolfort THE NEW DAY RECALLED: Livo of Girls and Women in Englig Canada, 1919-1939, by Veronic Strong-Hoag NO BURDEN Narratives of THE WOMAN SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT CANADA, by Catherine Cleverdon SILENCED, THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTIOI The Status of Women in Countries, by Doris Anderson TO CARRY: Black Working Women in Ontario 1920's to 1950's, by Dionne Brand by Makeda Silvera 1 MORE THAN A LABOUR OF LOVE, by Meg Luxton NO PLACE LIKE HOME: Diaries and Letters of Nova Scotia Women 1771-1938 The above available noted at the Woman's Bookstore books di Northel PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Northern Woman Page 16 �Small Class 14111 Ng kerne= Ns. 507 AIL TO: RETURN TO:. TUE NORTHERN IMMAN JOURNAL. P.O. DOR 144 MOM BAT, -ONTARIO P7C 495 Laturn Postage Ouessateod IS MERE AN ASTERISK ON YOUR LABEL?? PLEASE 1.11NEV YOUR smarms Don't forgot to wow your SUBSCRIPTION NAME ADDRESS. POST AL CODE $8.00 Institutional $16.00 Individual NORTHERN WOMAN JOURNAL PO Box 144 Thunder day Ontario CHRIS SNYDER MARGARET PHILLIPS MARGARET J OHNSTON 001 P7C 4V5 l*N1 ??..° JANE SAUNDERS 'tikt"" NAI-C1.1) ********************************* 44%**************************YV4 9RTHERAI 9NAW .17UR1VAL PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal Description An account of the resource Northern Woman Journal Published in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Northern Woman Journal (originally called Northern Woman) started in 1973 following the first annual Northern Women’s Conference in order to keep the conference attendees connected. Initially serving as a newsletter of events, local issues, and women’s resources, the Northern Woman Journal quickly became a diverse publication reaching national and international readers. Not only did it serve as a newsletter to keep local women up to date on feminist issues in Northwestern Ontario, but also as a safe space to discuss women’s resources, law, politics, economics, health, racism, sexism, homophobia, feminist organizing and activism, transnational feminist issues, poetry, feminist reading, feminist art, and women’s diverse lived experiences.One of the longest-running feminist perodicals in North America, the Northern Woman Journal reached its end in 1995. Throughout its 22 years, the Northern Woman Journal was produced by its many collective members, with membership evolving year to year. For many years, the journal worked closely alongside and shared space with the Northern Women’s Centre and the Northern Women’s Bookstore. With the exception of a year-long government grant in the 1970s, the journal relied entirely on subscription fees and donations in order to maintain publishing, which presented challenges throughout its entire existence. As stated in an early version of the editorial policy, “only by a free and open exchange of views and opinions will we develop a basis for unity which can be used as a basis for action.” Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Northern Woman Journal, Vol 14 No 3 Description An account of the resource Vol. 14, No. 3 (Oct. 1992) Title: Northern Woman Journal Topics include: Women’s history month Wendo Charlottetown Accord National Action Committee on the Status of Women Marginalization of people with disabilities, lesbians, and gays Aboriginal women and the constitution Sexual discrimination against aboriginal women Indian Act Aboriginal reserves Aboriginal women in the Charter Racism in the women’s movement Christopher Columbus - a creation myth Women’s conference on training and employment Poetry Labour law and women Short stories Women teachers fighting family violence Feminist reading list Resources for northern women Wife assault public education Feminist book review of Boys will be Boys: Breaking the link between masculinity and violence by Myriam Miedzan Authors/contributors: Donna Phoenix Jocelyn J. Paquette Native Women’s Association of Canada Nayyar Javed Lorilee Wright Gert Beadle Linda Ewashina Sara Williamson Josie Wallenius Ontario Women’s Directorate Michele Proulx Jane Saunders Rae Ann Honey Margaret Johnston Chris Snyder Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Northern Woman Journal Collective Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-10 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Published on this site with permission. Language A language of the resource English